African Food Basket Founder Anan Lololi. Photo by R. Jeanette Martin
This is a great story from Now Toronto with audio clips of youth participants at the bottom of the column.
“For 300 years we were on plantations, so there is this deep psychological barrier to considering farming as an option,” Lololi says of African Canadians. “And yet many of us come from long farming traditions.”
Youth at the centre seed, tend the garden and harvest the crops. A community kitchen prepares the food.
On top of the usual veggie menu of carrots, onions, celery and potatoes, Lololi encourages gardeners to grow foods particular to their culture.
The Hunger Program has been giving grants to similar youth gardening groups in some of the most impoverished neighborhoods:
* Literacy for Environmental Justice in San Francisco
* Isles’ Community Garden Program in Trenton, NJ and
* Seattle Youth Garden Works in Seattle
The positive impact on neighborhoods is great and the impact on the youth participants is immeasurable. If you want to support these great programs, you can give through the Hunger Program and designate one or all of these groups to receive your gift.