GtC’s site is at the rear of Mitchell Machine in Springfield’s Old Hill
Springfield’s youth agriculture project, Gardening the Community, is partnering with the YWCA’s YouthBuild; Albany Street’s ReStore; an unspecified lumber supplier; a social justice class from the MacDuffie School, and Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom to construct a permanent shed at their Mitchell Machine-donated lot at 49 Lebanon Street.
GtC’s site at 49 Lebanon Street, prepping the land last November
Building began late last week, and is scheduled to be completed tomorrow, April 13, between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. Gardening the Community director Kristin Brennan (pictured below) conveyed the following press release regarding the collaboration and the event:
GtC Director Kristin Brennan plants strawberries in new garden beds last fall
Springfield, MA – Gardening the Community, Springfield’s youth agriculture project in Old Hill and Maple High Six corners, usually uses growing food as the main framework for gathering people, developing relationships, and connecting communities.
But on April 13, under the supervision of Gopi Krishna, a community minded builder and a former supervisor for the YWCA’s Youthbuild, the program will explore the concept by sawing wood, putting up walls and pounding in nails to construct a permanent shed on our new garden site.
With a grant from Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom and materials from the ReStore and a Springfield-based lumber supplier, Gardening the Community will have a permanent shed to store and protect its tools, wheelbarrows, and curriculum materials year-round.
On April 4 and 6, nearly 20 adults and youth gathered at the site at 49 Lebanon Street in Springfield to teach, learn, and practice the basics of building. April 13 will be the final building day: 49 Lebanon Street from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Along with volunteer builders from the Valley, there will be representatives from the Springfield Chapter of YouthBuild, a national project that trains young adults in carpentry skills and provides basic GED services. Susan Rabbitt, the executive director of YouthBuild, and Jack Cascio, the program supervisor, committed help with the shed because it was a local project and would show a direct, meaningful result in community building to the students.
In addition, a social justice class led by teacher Greg Vennell from the MacDuffie School will be joining the effort between 1:00 and 1:50. Gardening the Community youth will arrive at the site after school to put the final touches on the shed that they only dreamed of for the past six years.
GtC’s site, last fall’s land-prep. A photog arrived (standing) and chatted on his cell phone
Up until this point, Gardening the Community has not had permanent enough land to invest in a shed. In 2006, Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom gave us a $1000 grant to build the shed and, thanks to Mitchell Machine, a local business who has donated our garden land, we’ve been able to make use of this gift.
Gardening the Community, a project of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, is a youth agriculture project that has been gardening in the Maple High-Six Corners Neighborhood of Springfield since 2002.
Gardening the Community employs 12 Springfield youth each year. The youth are taught principles of community involvement, organic agriculture, environmental stewardship, and urban development. While learning, they become participants in their community and run their own small vegetable business: selling produce at a farmers’ market, a local food store, and a downtown restaurant.
Contact Kristin Brennan at (413) 782-2136; brennanstaub@verizon.net.
–end release
