Spring is In the Air! Celebrate Earth Day and Garden Time with the REC!

Hey All,  This is Junior and Dontae checking in to let y’all know about all of the great things that are happening at the Regional Environmental Council. The Regional Environmental Council, (REC) is a non-profit organization based in Worcester, MA that is dedicated to building healthy, sustainable, and just communities. The REC is split into two teams, Environmental Health Justice (EHJ) and Food Justice (FJ). The Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGROW is a program within the REC’s Food Justice Branch that works with youth ages 14-16 in the low income neighborhoods of Main South and Bell Hill. The youth work on two urban farms located in the communities of Main South and Bell Hill. YouthGROWers work to raise their own healthy organic crops which are donated or sold in their neighborhoods through our Farmers Market Program. Throughout the summer youth participate in workshops on topics ranging from money management and facilitation, to leadership and environmental justice. YouthGROWers continue to work during the school year. In the “off-season,” youth are required to complete a total of 15 volunteer hours, attend 5 retreats (which happen once a month so youth have many opportunities to attend), and finish 1 internship. In return for completing all of these requirements youth are guaranteed a position in the YouthGROW program the following summer.

As the weather warms up, we’re excited to have new faces at the YouthGROW farms! A few ways you can come around to see what we’re up to this month are by attending our Earth Day Cleanup event and the Spring Garden Festival!

REC’s Earth Day Cleanups is an annual event where we work with the city and volunteers at sites across Worcester and clean up the streets to help brighten up the community. This year we have our youngest site coordinator, Nicole, who is 12 years old.  She decided to step up and take ownership over the health of her community and you can too! We have another coordinator who’s been extremely dedicated named Mary Caulway. This year she will be coordinating 3 sites! During the Earth day Cleanup, we encourage volunteers without a site in mind to come check us out at our YouthGROW farm at 63 Oread Street. There we will be getting our hands dirty making the neighborhood look good as we clean up our farm and Benefit Street Community Garden. We’ll be working on April 27^th from 8am until 12pm.

Also, come join us on Saturday, May 18^th  from 10 am-4pm at  the YouthGROW Oread Street Farm, for the REC’s Spring Garden Festival. The Regional Environmental Council’s Annual Spring Garden Festival brings the Worcester community together in celebration of the upcoming growing season. During the Spring Garden Festival there will be a plant and seedling sale. With over thirty different varieties of seedlings for sale, the Spring Garden Festival is a treat for those who have a green thumb or just plain interested in growing their own plants! The REC will also be offering free gardening workshops, live music and dance from YouthGROWers and other local talent. There will also be Kids Zone; equipped with a bouncy castle, face painting station, veggie photo booth, and ton of other fun activities. Visit recworcester.org to pre-order seedlings and to see a list of local organizations that will be at the Spring Garden Festival. See you there!