Urban Farms Earth Day Show Recap
On April 22, our Urban Farms team held a live Earth Day broadcast. The show was hosted by S:US Urban Farms Director Mike Hollis. Mike started the segment by talking about the importance of urban farms and garden to people served by S:US – from planting fresh fruits and vegetables to enjoying the physical and mental benefits of working in nature. Next, Minjung Park, S:US Volunteer Manager, shared information about volunteering with S:US Urban Farms. If you’re interested in volunteering with S:US, please contact Minjung at [email protected].
Kyle and Nick, volunteers from Third Bridge, talked about what motivated them to look for a community volunteer project – they wanted to help the community and inspire other people to get involved. Volunteering with Urban Farms “helps us work better as a team and it also inspires us to do good things in our workplace,” said Kyle.
Mike continued the broadcast by giving us a tour of the backyard that the volunteer group was working in. They built raised garden beds and sealed the wood. These raised beds will be planted with vegetables and herbs in a few weeks.
For the last section of the broadcast, Johanna Cepin, S:US Individual Support Coordinator, Developmental Disabilities Services and Monica Santos, Chief Operating Officer, Developmental Disabilities Services, joined Mike to discuss a new initiative to maintain community fridges in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. This will enable residents to help fight food insecurity in their communities. Community fridges are a lifeline to communities, especially as we struggle with high inflation rates. Johanna and Monica also shared information about lending libraries at S:US residences and S:US Day Habilitation programs for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Click on the video below to watch the show.
S:US grows on approximately 17,500 square feet of garden space across New York City – making us one of the city’s largest urban agricultural initiatives. S:US Urban Farms engaged 609 participants last season, including five new Urban Farmers who transitioned from volunteer roles to paid employment. The farms and gardens at S:US grew 8,700 pounds of fruits, vegetables, and culinary herbs last season, for an estimated market value of $43,500. Last year, S:US Urban Farms hosted nine community and corporate volunteer projects, from site cleanups to garden renovations, to food security research for our programs.