Garden. By Jon Butts.
Local youth apart of the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota and DeSoto counties rebuilt their old garden, with the help of Dollar Tree, to assist with food needs for local pantries.
The youth volunteers wanted to provide more than just canned food for the community. They wanted to give healthy food that is assessable for everyone. In their garden they have harvested five pounds of radishes, some watermelon and other foods that grow well in Florida heat.
Riya D., 16, is a volunteer and said they started the garden as part of their Think, Learn, and Create Change. (TLC) project with the Summit for America’s Youth. A TLC project empowers youth to identify challenges, develop solutions and take meaningful action.
The idea for the project came after the youth group noticed large food desserts in the area and wanted to tackle food insecurities.
The garden is 100% youth led and they are responsible for refurbishing, soiling and harvesting the crops.
By working with local partners they were able to learn how to start and properly maintain a garden in a sustainable manner.
“It was a great experience… We donated over five pounds of fresh vegetables to Harvest House within the first couple months,” said Yuejie L, 15, another volunteer.
Through their advocacy, the youths said being apart of the Boys and Girl Club has helped them understand why these clubs are important to the community.
“I learned so many skills especially about advocacy that are important and essential. Everyone needs to know even if your young like us we have a voice and if you care about something you should be able to do something about it and the club has helped with that,” Riya D. said.
She said through their work they have plans with other partners to build more community gardens to spread the impact.
On August 20th they will be hosting a panel at the Sarasota town hall to showcase their garden and talk with local officials about other community issues.
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