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In the Garden
AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) summer associates Cantana Boucher and Alice Rogers introduced a group of 18 children to a community garden in this southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood.
Children toured the garden and were asked to guess what types of plants were growing there. Cantana and Alice explained the different types of produce growing there, read garden stories and sang songs. The group enjoyed nutritious feast featuring tomatoes, cucumbers and made-from-scratch chocolate cupcakes.
The goal? To get kids used to the garden so that they eat more produce.
For the past 14 years, neighborhood children have been invited to the garden weekly, but priorities changed after the mid-June record floods, Cantana said. August 11 was the only Summer 2008 gardening event.
Ten children told their flood stories -- how the flood impacted their families and how they can help others. Cantana put the stories together into a booklet.
"The kids are hungry for anything they had before (the flood). They're hungry for normalcy," Cantana said.
Wellington Heights is one of five neighborhoods in Central Cedar Rapids Weed & Seed.