Thankful for Garden Works Youth & Leaders

From Catherine…

This week I have had the joy of helping with Legacy Garden Works on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons. Garden Works employs local at-risk youth to work in the garden, sell produce, and learn other skills. This week, instead of gardening, we have been roasting coffee beans, making granola, and sewing tote bags. There are 4 youth working this season. Two are becoming experts in food-related skills (roasting coffee beans, baking granola, and creating lattes) while the other two youth have learned to make soap and are now sewing.

Each day of working at Garden Works has been an absolute joy! We start work at 4:00 pm, so we have all spent the day at school or at work, but we show up eager to tackle whatever project is at hand. The youth have great attitudes. They are punctual, positive, encouraging, patient, and eager to learn. Today they were each able to work independently at their task. It was impressive! I was supervising a youth who was sewing – she was doing such a great job and clearly did not need my help, so I did some pinning and hand-sewing. The barista-in-training brought me a specially-made latte to sample. Lucky me! Our only obstacle was that we ran out of silk neck ties – which we are using for straps on the tote bags. We are 20 ties short. If you have any neck ties you would like to contribute to the cause, we would be grateful to receive them (before Monday, December 7 at 4 pm when we resume our sewing).