Kennedy Middle School Builders Club members pull weeds from the Atlanta Good Shepherd Church Community Garden.
Nineteen members of the Kennedy Middle School Builders Club spent nearly three hours pulling weeds, collecting organic matter for compost and laying mulch in the 1-acre community garden at Atlanta Good Shepherd Community Church on Thursday morning. (Check out an AJC feature on the garden here.)
The students were greeted by Pastor Richard Bright, who manages the 25-crop garden that includes greens, okra, squash, watermelons, beans, sweet potatoes, garlic and eggplant.
Fred Conrad, coordinator of the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) Community Gardens project divided students into three teams to work on the project and laying paths of mulch. The ACFB provides gardening expertise, volunteer help, tools and seeds to more than 150 gardens in Atlanta.
Atlanta Good Shepherd Community Church pastor Richard Bright (left) tells Kennedy students about the garden as Fred Conrad (center) looks on.
This is the second year that Kennedy Middle students have worked with the garden. “We signed a letter of partnership with them because we wanted them to learn,” said Bright. “Last year, we took 12 students to Fort Valley State University to visit their agricultural program, and four students decided that’s where they wanted to go.” The church will take students to visit Tuskegee University and Florida A&M University in the spring of 2010, he said.