By Julie Rossman
Correspondent
Shepherds College, Union Grove, has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Racine Community Foundation to develop the Shepherds College Gardens Community Food Project.
Shepherds College is a post-secondary school for young adults with intellectual disabilities. Now in its fourth year, the school offers two major areas of study: Culinary Arts and Horticulture.
Leslie Leith is the lead instructor of Horticulture at Shepherds College. She is excited to have won the grant, explaining that it will help people on so many levels.
“It’s helping our students and it’s helping the community,” Leith said.
Leith explained that her students have learned a lot from off-campus Community Supported Agriculture Internships. However, she also saw a need for more training on the Shepherds campus.
The grant will help attain that goal and will also provide for a much-needed new rototiller. The garden is currently at about 1/2 of an acre in size and Leith says there’s plenty of room to expand.
Furthermore, the project will reach out to others in the community.
Leith said half of the produce harvested from the Shepherds garden will be donated to the Racine County Food Bank.
The other half will be sold at the Union Grove Farmers Market, which runs Tuesdays from mid-May through mid-October at Village Square Park. There will even be a “market share” program, where low-income residents can receive a membership card to purchase items at a discounted price.
The College sold produce at the farmers market four times this past season. “We sold out every time we went,” Leith said.
The grant will further help the College reach out to local school-aged children with the “Plant a Row” program, which lets visiting students grow food for donation to the local food pantry.
Local high school students in groups like Future Farmers of America, will have an opportunity to work in the garden program as well – giving them a “taste of entrepreneurship,” according to Leith.
Leith thinks vegetables from a grocery store are OK, but not as good as those fresh from the grower.
“It’s so important to have healthy veggies,” Leith said, explaining why she’s so excited about donating half of their produce to the food bank.
“When you buy local, it’s a lot better for you and it supports your community,” she said.
The Racine Community Foundation provides about $1.5 million a year to non-profit organizations throughout Racine County, through both the grant application program and a donor fund. Shepherds applied for its grant back in July.
Racine Community Foundation Executive Director, Mary Beth Mikrut, said when she heard about the Shepherds food project, she thought it sounded excellent.
“It’s a win-win project for everyone,” she said.
While the project will help Shepherds students to learn more about horticulture, she said it goes beyond that.
“It’s helping a huge number of folks along the way,” Mikrut said.
“We’re thrilled to be helping people in Racine County and west of the Interstate,” she added.
Currently seven students are enrolled in the horticulture program at Shepherds; however, Leith expects that number to grow this spring, when the College’s 22 first-year students will need to declare a major. S
Leith said she is grateful to Racine Community Foundation. “I appreciate their support in what they are doing to help train our students with disabilities to become members of the community,” she said. “These students have a lot of skills and talents that they can offer,” she added.
For more information about Racine Community Foundation, call (262) 632-8474 or visit www.racinecommunityfoundation.org.
For more information about Shepherds College, call (262) 878-5620 or visit www.shepherdscollege.edu.
-
-
-
-
-