About 50 community members and students spent Presidents Day cleaning up a former garden area at Kemp Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring.
Their goal is to create not just a blooming garden, but one in which students at the Title One school will help work at, learn about good nutrition and take home the fruits and vegetables of their labor.
Councilmember Natali Fani-González is the moving force behind the garden. She worked with AfriTrive in Silver Spring, which will maintain the garden and work with students on planting, weeding and picking.
AfriThrive is a non-profit that, according to its mission statement, helps African immigrant and minority families though nutrition, skill development and economic opportunity.
“It was such a beautiful event,” Fani-González told MCM. “We are creating an urban farm.”
Several years ago, there was a garden at the school, but it was not maintained. “When it was created, no one took care of it,” she said.
Now, a farmer with AfriThrive will lead volunteers in preparing the farm while teaching and feeding the students, Fani-González said.
Over 50 community members came together today to help us clear the area for our urban farm. Thank you all for your dedication and love. Photos of before and after the clean up 💚 pic.twitter.com/yRO33iEnXv
— Natali Fani-González (@NataliFGonzalez) February 19, 2024
