For years, the nonprofit Goosefoot Community Fund has been doing its part to keep the rural character of South Whidbey alive through donations, community partnerships and maintenance of the Bayview Cash Store.

This year, the non-profit organization has put its money towards future South Whidbey farmers at the Organic Farm School and South Whidbey School District Garden Program.

“Being this involved in philanthropy is new for us, and that comes down to the success of The Goose,” Marian Myszkowski, Goosefoot director of program and fund development, said. “The store is structured so that the money goes back into the community. If we didn’t have The Goose, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Goosefoot donated $25,000 to the Organic Farm School in early January, which helped the program meet a contractual obligation to raise $100,000 per year. Without the donation from Goosefoot, the Organic Farm School would not have met that goal, although it’s unclear if it would have caused the program to fold. The program relocated to Maxwelton Valley from Greenbank Farm last year, so school was not in session during 2016.

“It was a qualifying benchmark that allowed us to fully execute our 10-year lease with the landowners,” Judy Feldman, executive director of the Organic Farm School, said. “It’s been a year of no income from student tuition or produce sales, so we’re hugely thankful for this.”

Goosefoot also awarded the South Whidbey School District Garden Program with a check for $73,575.36 Thursday afternoon. The organization matched the amount raised from community donations at The Goose, which totaled $36,787.68. This is the third year Goosefoot has donated funds to the school garden program, although this exceeds the amount raised in 2015 by more than $20,000.

The school garden program will decide how to utilize those funds in the near future, according to Cary Peterson, South Whidbey School District Farm and Garden coordinator.