It’s been a busy summer for the kids at the Columbus Boys & Girls Club as the club’s summer program, which included 150 kids, draws to a close on Friday.
The club’s summer program has been filled with activities, not only at the club’s facility on 14th Avenue North but all around the Golden Triangle where the kids have been exposed to new experiences.
We are particularly encouraged by one particular program, new to the club this year. With a grant from The W’s “Sowing for Success” program, 15 club members have built, planted and nurtured their own garden in four raised cinder-block beds.
In recent years, there has been a revival of home gardening, as a source of healthy, locally-produced foods. We are beginning to realize, as previous generations knew, that we can produce healthy, affordable food. We need not rely completely on the corporate food industry for the foods we eat. We can do it ourselves. That’s a powerful message for young people to hear.
The kids in the program have embraced this, helping select which vegetables to grow and tending the young plants as they have grown. The club’s chef will use the food they have grown in preparing meals.
But the benefits of this project are many.
Through gardening, kids can interact with nature in a direct and personal way. It seems to us that most kids have a growing estrangement with the sights, smells and sounds of the natural world.
The garden affords kids a chance to see a project through from beginning to end and take pride in the bounty their garden will produce. The squash and peppers are flourishing in their little garden, but the tomatoes are struggling and seem to be losing the battle with the unrelenting sun.
This, too, is good for kids to see and know. Not everything you try will succeed. But even in those cases, there is almost always something to be learned.
We salute the young gardeners at the Boys & Girls Club. We are sure the toil, sweat and passion you pour into your garden will be rewarded in a few weeks time.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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