See article in Roanoke Times Current http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/education/wb/261205 for the article and more pictures. We also start the Weekend Food for Kids Backpack Project with backpacks for the children enrolled at our McHarg ASP. We are doing this project with the help of some RU student club Highlander Helpers. This has all grown out was a class project of Victoria Sarbin Last week they packed 25 backpacks with a single microwaveable serving of ravioli, a cup of mandarin oranges, a cup of strawberry applesauce, a box of apple juice, a box of orange juice, a granola bar, a fibre bar, and a box of yogurt raisins. We did the shopping and they did the packing. This week we are adding another microwaveable serving so there will be two lunches.
Highlander Helpers have also been instrumental in acquiring the backpacks. A big "good job" to them and all the help they have given this project.
Right now we are buying most of our food through Walmart but hope soon to be getting food from Feeding America SW VA. This has been a challenge to get straightened out. Right now we are spending between $150.00 and $200.00 per week for 25 back packs. Next month we will be doubling that cost when we expand this project to the Belle Heth program. Currently we have $600.00 of FEMA funds for this project and then we will move on to the $6000.00 grant from district Rotary that Radford Rotary club applied for and received.
The big job for me over the past week has been finalizing the Speer Fund grant from the Presbyterian Synod of the Mid Atlantic. This grant is for a new handicapped accessible community garden in the lowest income section of Radford, a block from the firehouse food distribution. The two big items we really really want are
12' x 12' greenhouse
Wheel chair accessible raised beds.
We have been given access to city land by the City Manger. This land can not be built on due to a storm drain running diagonally across it. We will be putting in a base for the greenhouse and a patio area made up of pavers on a four inch base of #10 dust. The layout will look something like this.
We've priced out the cost of the greenhouse, the wheelchair beds, lumber for raised beds, and the pavers and the cost for those come to $7,049.22. The Speer Fund will fund $7,000.00 of that. Doris Hendrickson our Board President and I met with Session of the Presbyterian Church of Radford on Monday who unanimously voted to support this project. Their vote was a must since a local Presbyterian Church must be both a sponsor of the project and active participants in the project. Thanks so much to the Church and the members of Session.
We will also need the #10 dust which I priced at $226.00, potting soil and fertilizer which prices out to $436.00 and then tools, hoses, etc which I am estimating at $600.00. We may need a load of top soil to fill 10 raised garden beds in addition to the potting soil for the wheelchair beds which will mean another $250-$300.00. The value of the land is $18,500.00 and the City Manager has promised water access which is valued at approximately $2,000.00. If needed the city will also put in fencing and Leland Cypress.
We really want to make this more than a community garden. We want it to be a community center/park which helps develop a sense of community and self sufficiency as well as providing fresh food. I envision paths, benches, plantings, and food beds all coming together. You'll be hearing a lot more about this as the project unfolds.
