Thanks to a grant from the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF), CommunityGrows is honored to be working at the Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point at the Willie Mays Clubhouse. We started teaching garden classes on September 3rd once a week, and soon we hope to be cooking there with produce from the garden.
The Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point, established in 2008, is a 2000 square-foot organic teaching garden and kitchen program and the first after-school program in the country to become a founding affiliate of The Edible Schoolyard Project, which started in Berkeley by Alice Waters.
Working with the Willie Mays Clubhouse we hope to involve the youth in all aspects of tending the garden – along with preparing, serving and eating the food – as a way to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables and develop lifelong healthy eating habits. The goal of the Edible Schoolyard at Hunters Point is to be the healthiest place for youth in San Francisco!
The Willie Mays Clubhouse, located in Bayview Hunters Point (BVHP), is where alcohol, tobacco and junk food are the most commonly sold products. Plus, only 5% of the food sold is fresh produce. As a result, BVHP residents are hospitalized more than residents of other neighborhoods for almost every disease, including diet-related illnesses, such as diabetes and congestive heart failure.
Adrian Almquist, our CommunityGrows Gardens Program Manager, has been working with the youth to harvested lots of peppers and tomatoes, which youth have been taking home. They have also been harvesting Gravenstein apples from a garden tree and serving slices for snack. Youth planted sunflowers, beans, lettuce and carrots together. Lesson have been about life cycles, food webs, and the importance of pollinators with a focus on bees. After the lesson, one 2nd grader told Adrian, “I know now that bees are really important for the environment”.
We look forward to continue working here and supporting Bayview Hunters Point.
Photos for this blog post were taken by Laura Turner, an intern with us for a few days, sponsored by Momenta Photography Workshop-San Francisco. Laura is an undergraduate journalism student at American University in Washington D.C. Her photography website is here. See more of her photos from Willie Mays Clubhouse here.