Indiana University Kokomo students volunteer in community garden with focus on sustainability and community health

The Carver Community Center was started a few years ago with help from an IU sustainability grant. Volunteers from Indiana University Kokomo helped build the garden and a food pantry box for non-perishable items. In addition to helping address food insecurity in the area, the community garden serves as a teaching tool for local children during the summer and connects students at IU Kokomo with the community surrounding the university.

Volunteers came together to pull weeds and prepare the ground for planting a variety of vegetables, as described in a news release from IU Kokomo. One of the volunteers, sustainability intern Emma Watson, said she looks forward to helping plant vegetables. Watson wants to be an elementary school teacher and sees the project as a source for future classroom ideas. "Sustainability doesn't only encompass environmental concerns like recycling. It also addresses food insecurity in communities," Watson said, adding, "By doing this, and working with the food pantry, we're able to provide nutrition to people who might not otherwise have access to fruits and vegetables."

Community education is part of the goal of Carver Community Center. Its executive director, Donta Rogers, explains the way in which the community garden presents a learning opportunity for area kids in the summer. "We've done programming to have kids grow seeds, plant them in our garden, and then have vegetables they could take home to their parents," Rogers said. He went on to speak about the importance of the partnership with IU Kokomo, "The garden took a hit with volunteers not available because of COVID-19 in the last year, and sometimes we operate with short staff. We appreciate our partnership with IU Kokomo that helped us out."

Director of Indiana University Kokomo's Office of Sustainability, Leda Casey, stresses the university's ongoing duty to the community through the lens of sustainability, "Part of sustainability is you don't just do a project and walk away. It's our responsibility when we start projects to see them through. We're making the commitment to the Carver Center that we're going to do this regularly. It's important to me, and to the university," Casey said.