Volunteers needed: Beloit Learning Garden in Ames

This project is just beginning, but we’ll need volunteers for a variety of tasks, both short- and longer-term. The Beloit Learning Garden is an outdoor classroom for at-risk youth from Lutheran Services in Iowa’s Beloit campus near 13th and Northwestern Avenue in Ames. We are using the garden to connect these youth with adults and to help them learn life skills. Some of garden produce will be used in the Beloit dining hall and some will be donated to the Bethesda Community Food Pantry (located next to Beloit). Future expansion will hopefully include fruit trees and bushes. Short-term volunteers needed for:
• Site preparation
• Fence installation
• Build eight raised beds, composting area
Longer-term volunteers needed to:
• Meet regularly with Beloit youth (we’ll be using 4-H garden materials and working with Beloit staff)
• Help Beloit youth plan the garden, start seeds, care for seedlings, transplant, etc.
All volunteers working with youth must attend a training session where they’ll learn about children who live on the Beloit campus in order to make the experience more rewarding for adult volunteers and for the youth. Partners in this project include Story County Master Gardener Association, ISU Extension, the USDA and Bethesda Lutheran Church. We are building a list of volunteers for this unique project and we would love to have your name on it! Please contact our volunteer coordinator, Allison Severson, severson.allison@gmail.com, (515) 851-7820.