Growing Gardens and Community

Now in its third year, the BOSS/Haven’s Community Service Crew (HCSC) Garden Project provides an opportunity for Havens students to personally connect and work side-by-side with at-risk or recently homeless local families. Together, the families tend raised garden beds at the Village and gather four times a year to harvest, weed and replant the beds and to share a garden feast.

At last week’s garden party, the volunteers and residents harvested lettuce, cabbage, onions, pumpkins, tomatoes and herbs and replanted the beds with cool weather vegetables including peas, beans, carrots, brussel sprouts, collard greens and chard. The kids used the lettuce and tomatoes to toss up a fresh salad. Onions and pumpkins were used to cook a delicious ginger pumpkin soup for all the Village residents to enjoy. Kitchen staff were given extra harvested veggies to make more fresh, healthy meals this week.

On the Wednesday before the garden project, BOSS representative Janny Castillo visited Havens Elementary to provide an overview of BOSS to 4th grade classes and encourage participation in the project. She told the kids that BOSS helps local homeless, poor and disabled people achieve health and self-sufficiency. Families in the program not only receive housing, but many other important services such as after-school care, job search assistance, computer lab, adult literacy, mentoring and drug/alcohol recovery and support. Kids living in the Village attend school every day and also help do chores in the Village during afternoons and weekends. Castillo told the kids that while meals are donated to the Village, the garden project gives the residents a chance to grow and eat their own fresh vegetables.

The garden project was launched three years ago by the Haven’s Community Service Crew. HCSC is a parents club organization dedicated to bringing age-appropriate community service projects to elementary school students with an emphasis on fostering an appreciation of differences within Piedmont and our surrounding communities and preparing Haven’s students to be members of our larger global community.

The mission of the garden project is to teach both Piedmont and BOSS families that growing your own food can be both healthy and delicious. It also teaches life skills in gardening and cooking that can potentially be used for future job seeking or work experience. And it is a valuable and fun community building experience!

To learn more about Havens Community Service Crew, email havenscrew@gmail.com. Our next meeting will be on November 12 at 7:30pm at 56 La Salle