History
2008–2011
The original program of the organization was the Earth Crew but at the time they just called it, “MEVO,” and the idea was simple. A group of passionate high school students went out on Saturday and organized volunteer events that promoted environmental sustainability and a greater connection to nature. High School students from Mahwah High School would get together in their free time, without school credit, and any expectation of reward, and take hands-on action to create the future they wanted to see. The Saturday volunteer events were diverse in their focus: trail building, distribution of compact fluorescent light bulbs to residential homes, painting and distributing recycling bins, electronic recycling drives, pruning & gardening at the New Jersey botanical gardens, invasive species removal in parks, planting trees and native shrubs, going on group hikes, and so many more.
2011 and Onward
The founding staff passed the organization on to future generations of passionate students. Eric stayed involved on the board and as an Executive Director when he was home from college. But for a few years, MEVO was managed by an entirely high school student staff based out of Mahwah High School and recruiting volunteers from the school. At this time the high school leaders treated MEVO similar to a school club. Each year when the student leaders were planning to graduate they would train underclassmen and pass on the organization to the next crew of high school leaders. In 2012 MEVO launched its farm program, expanded its Stag Hill trash clean-up program, and launched its first summer internship program at this moment the last High School Leaders decided it was time for a change. The high school team at the time had been managing college student interns, and working closely with corporate & government partners, and it had become apparent that it would be very difficult to find adequate student replacements to take over MEVO. The full-time work, demands of a start-up not-for-profit, beginnings of a full-time farming program, and more were just too much of a demand for an already busy high school student schedule. The decision naturally became that MEVO would transfer its main staffing needs to college student interns, start to develop the organization to operate on a more full-time schedule, and raise more funding. This year was also the beginning of MEVO’s regular trash clean-ups on Stag Hill and its Farm to Live program establishing urban gardens on suburban lawns throughout Bergen County. The Farm to Live program is the precursor of what eventually would become MEVO’s Fresh Roots Farm and Lovewell Farm.
2012–2015
These years MEVO grew rapidly: managing several small community garden spaces that would grow food and donate it to food pantries, organizing an extensive amount of trash clean-ups on Stag Hill, and expanding its summer internship crew. In 2014 MEVO was awarded several awards and recognitions for its impactful and creative environmental work: We were declared New Jersey Heroes by NJ First Lady Mary Pat Christie and the New Jersey Heroes Foundation, we received the Seeds of Hope Award from New Jersey Monthly Magazine, Valued Partner Award from the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, and New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Award for Public Service. Most importantly, this year we were invited to attend the National Jefferson Awards Dinner in Washington D.C. where our founder Eric received: The National Jefferson Award for Public Service; The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities from the Jefferson Awards Foundation. At the time of receiving this award Eric was one of only 200 people since 1974 to be awarded this prestigious honor.
2015-2016
In May of 2015, MEVO signed a Land Use Agreement with the County of Bergen Department of Parks and County Executive James J. Tedesco III to allow the organization to build a two-acre sustainable community farm at Campgaw Mountain Reservation in Mahwah, NJ. This was a very significant moment for MEVO because it meant they could expand their organization’s educational programs, internship & volunteer opportunities, and dramatically increase their food production from their farming program. In addition, they would be able to create a community space in the County of Bergen that focused exclusively on sustainable farming & education and benefits thousands of people every year. The same year MEVO was approached by a local family in Mahwah looking to have their 1 acre suburban backyard turned into a local community farm space. This property, which eventually would become Lovewell Farm, was put on hold until the Fresh Roots Farm could be built out. In 2016 we took another huge step, we hired our first official employee, Isabel Arrieche. Someone had to tend to the Fresh Roots Farm and curate the space, and Isabel was up for the challenge!
2017
In the Fall of 2017, MEVO was able to start building out its second farm in Mahwah, “Lovewell Farm,” located on historical farmland at Peterson Place in Mahwah, NJ. This property would take several years to fully build and integrate into the intensive farm production system of the Fresh Roots Farm but would serve as a welcome addition to MEVO’s programs. The space has become an awesome service opportunity for large amounts of volunteers interested in supporting MEVO’s farms and helping expand the model of regionalized local food systems. This was the first year of MEVO’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm Share program where residents of the area could pay money at the beginning of the season for a portion of the vegetables and honey.
2019
Was a huge year for MEVO! The Founder & Executive Director Eric J. Fuchs-Stengel retired after eleven and a half years of leading and caring for the organization. Eric felt it was time for a new young person to take MEVO into a successful and impactful future. He wrote the 2020 – 2023 strategy plans to guide this new leader in their direction with the organization and to help future MEVO staff understand the core values that the organization was created with. Two of these core values are: “We remain open to changing times, needs, and issues and act dynamically to engage with relevant and tangible actions that produce real positive change.” And, “We ensure that Youth / Young People hold core leadership roles in our organization and remain central to its functioning and creative mission to address local & global ecological problems.” Eric remains involved with MEVO as a board member and advisor. This year MEVO was able to put dedicated time into building out Lovewell Farm, and Stag Hill’s trash clean-up program was rejuvenated with a more focused campaign to stop, patrol, & clean up illegal dumping throughout the mountain. Lastly, a new Executive Director, Violet Reed, was trained and prepared to take on her role of leading MEVO for the next five or more years.
2020-2021
2022-2021 were both wonderful and challenging years for MEVO! While we were momentarily swayed by the pandemic we navigated it successfully and were able to maintain some of our volunteer programming as well as our internships. During these years we built and completed an 8ft deer fence at Lovell Farm as well as our final crop blocks there. We also embarked on a two-year-long cleanup project at Split Rock Mountain on Stag Hill, with the Land Conservancy of New Jersey. Through this project, we removed decades worth of illegal dumping from a culturally significant site of the Ramapough Lenappe. This land was being cleaned up to give back to the tribe in a land trust. In 2020 we were also offered a spot at the Ramsey Market and took it! This opportunity gifted us a new community of supporters and volunteers and allowed us to further support our mission work through our regenerative farming efforts. In 2021 we held our first Scouts Day where we welcomed over 80 scouts to our farm to learn about topics ranging from “Leave No Trace,” Herbalism 101, Beekeeping and Pollinators, and more! To top it all off, we were donated a Ford F350 by Suez (now Veolia). This truck has improved our quality of work and life immensely!
2022-
2022-2024 has proved to be some of MEVO’s strongest years yet. We said goodbye to a few amazing staff members as they moved on to other endeavors and hired an equally amazing few members. We had our strongest years at the farmers’ market, exceeded our volunteer attendance and educational offerings since before the pandemic, and began running more educational workshops. To add to all of this we started our first annual plant sale and seedling donation program in 2023. As 2024 continues onward we are excited to be offering more workshops, welcoming more students into our farms, attending more school events, and having our best growing season yet!
