OLHSA’S Summer Youth Employment Program beautifies Pontiac with community gardens Posted: August 02, 2016
OLHSA’s annual Summer Youth Employment Program is in full swing and making downtown Pontiac more beautiful day by day. This year, students in the program are building community gardens in Pontiac, at Clark and Stockwell and Osnum and Anderson.
Before
building the first garden at Clark and
Stockwell,
participants toured the Micah 6 community garden in Pontiac to learn from Coleman
Yoakum, Director of Micah 6, about how to grow vegetables and how to build
raised beds. This learning was applied and the 40 participants ages 16 to 19
went to work building a garden of their own, while putting to use their new
carpentry and gardening skills.
“Just
in building the raised beds you could see their confidence being boosted,” said
Kelsey Krumrey, Summer Youth Employment Manager. “Seeing your work actually
create something is new to many of these youth.”
The second garden,
at Osnum and Anderson, is a direct result of community members seeking to
beautify and utilize their spaces. After seeing the transformation at the first
garden this summer, Perry Earl of Nation of Kings Church connected with OLHSA’s
SYEP group to duplicate efforts on the church property.
So
far the gardens consists of vegetables, as well as some flowers for
pollinating. This season’s crop includes carrots, beans, beets, onions
pumpkins, radish, squash, and several leafy greens.
The
garden project is made possible through a grant from the MDNR which provides
funds for the Summer Youth Employment Program.
“It is my vision to make it theirs by giving choices for other projects, perhaps a farm table and canopy for water breaks while working in the space,” said Krumrey. “Many of them loved building the beds and I want to work to incorporate more of that into the summer plans. Lumber donations will be graciously accepted!”