Kids come together for service day
Published 8:44 pm Monday, April 20, 2015
Audre Davis, a King’s Fork Middle School student, digs holes for planting tomatoes during Global Youth Service Day on Saturday while Mike Kelly of Suffolk Parks and Recreation measures a straight line for peppers.
More than a dozen sites throughout Suffolk benefited from the work of about 400 young people during Global Youth Service Day on Friday and Saturday.
Young people cleaned up at parks, did car washes at schools, planted flowers, held canned food drives and more.
The young people at the community garden at East Suffolk Recreation Center were assisted by the Parks and Recreation Department’s Mike Kelly, as well as Extension Agent Marcus Williams.
“It’s a small group, but they’re working really hard,” Kelly said of the handful of students there.
Kamari Rivers, 12, plants peppers at the East Suffolk Recreation Center community garden during Global Youth Service Day on Saturday.
The group finished planting the raised boxes and an herb garden and put some decorative flowers around the sign. They had moved on to the row garden by the time the two hours of service ended at noon.
“It will take a couple of weeks to get the row garden planted, but this is a good head start,” Kelly said.
Several of the young people who were helping said they have gardens at home and so chose the community garden project because they have experience.
“I like to garden,” said Khadijah Person, a 16-year-old Nansemond River High School student, who said her family keeps a small garden at home. “I thought it would be fun.”
She also said she thought it was a good thing that the garden helps seniors in the community. She also learned some tips to take home and apply to her garden.
“I learned that I plant my lettuce too soon,” she said.
Christy Jordan, an 18-year-old senior at King’s Fork High School, said she was looking forward to participating in Youth Service Day and chose the garden project because she cares about the environment.
“People don’t realize how important the environment actually is,” she said, adding her favorite part of gardening is actually putting the plants in the ground.
Audre Davis, 13, a King’s Fork Middle School student, also has a garden at home.
“I like gardening,” she said. “It’s a fun thing to do.”
Audre, Christy and Khadijah all are members of the Suffolk Youth Advisory Council.
Participating young people were able to join in one of the many projects identified by the city or to complete their own project.
