By Kristina Welch | Executive Director
Hello Jovial Friends,
Jovial Concepts took huge steps to plan ahead and plan early this year and it really paid off. We revamped our best practices and started 45 days earlier than last year, which meant we beat the heat and had everything planted by early June.
It is wonderful to see our gardens flourishing and to have already donated 21lbs of fresh food!
We owe much of our success to our growing partnership with the City of Lakewood, who has been doing 1st Thursday Plaza events with us at the Cultural Center. This has been a great avenue to recruit new volunteers and let our board have a lot of fun together. Feel free to join us July 5th at the Lakewood Cultural center.
We also owe a huge thank you to the many hands of Project Helping and their wonderful partnership. This fantastic volunteer organization sent us several corporate groups and many wonderful volunteers to help get all of our gardens planted! Project Helping organizes volunteer events specifically designed to make an impact — both on you and your community. Through the act of volunteering, participants actively invest in their communities while also reaping the benefits of increased mental wellness. This wonderful group has a strong base in mental health and is even giving us the gift of working with a group of high functioning adults with disabilities.
Our garden leader Liz has always had her heart in families with special needs, she was so excited to hear this group wanted weekly projects and immediately volunteered an extra day each week just to work with them. Their first day the Project Helping leader warned our garden leader Liz that Micha and Zach do not like to go out on group days and they were really suprised that they volunteered as they had never been excited about any of the projects before.
Liz felt very honored that they chose her project and was determined to show them a good time. At first, Micha and Zach kept to themselves away from the group. They wouldnt touch the tools or even put on gloves. Liz had an idea! She approached Micha and Zach with a broad fork and showed them how to use it off to the side by themselves. THEY LOVED IT! Soon they were tilling the garden, laughing, and showing the rest of the group what Liz had taught them. Liz said the day was full of laughter and they even got 2 yards fully tilled and planted. The group learned a lot and all brought home little straberry starts to try at their homes!
We are thrilled to be off to such a great start and look forward to our Saturday Garden days. Every Saturday we meet at 5045 W 1st ave (The Co-op at 1st) and split up to tend dozens of gardens. We garden from 10-2 and hope to see you soon!
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