#911 Lansing Eastside Day of Service

Save to Favorites

Our project focuses on environmental stewardship, education, and healthy futures, with a focus on combating food insecurity and fostering a strong community. This multi day, multi pronged project, will tackle this issue in many different areas. Project 1: BreadBasket Food Pantry Support The overarching goal of the Breadbasket Food Pantry is to offer emergency food assistance to neighbors who are experiencing hunger. More than this, Breadbasket offers a welcoming environment in which neighbors can become involved in other programs. ANC provides information, referral and advocacy services, ensuring access to health, housing, and human services (e.g., Ingham Health Plan coverage for uninsured, MIChild, SNAP, Medicaid, Plan First, foreclosure counseling, credit repair and financial literacy, and healthy parenting programs and classes). They also connect residents to neighborhood watches and associations, youth programs, and cooking classes---building connectivity and social capital in this richly diverse area of the city. We strongly believe that everyone should have access to nutritionally dense food, especially those who experience poverty and food insecurity. On Monday, September 9th, 30 volunteers will support the BreadBasket Food Pantry by helping us set up the tables, pick up the donations, organize the produce donations, pass out food to our neighbors, and clean up at the end. Project 2: Community Garden Support The Hunter Park GardenHouse is a neighborhood-based educational farm and community garden. Developed in 2008 as part of a community-led improvement plan for Hunter Park, the GardenHouse centers programming in three areas: home gardening education for all ages, fresh food access, and urban ecological restoration. Projects include a robust workshop series, the Urban Gardener Certificate Course, a free-to-all community garden and orchard called Edible Park, produce grown for donation, a spring plant sale, native wildflower demonstration gardens, and more. 104 individual volunteers will work over three days to plant, mulch, and harvest produce for our community; specifically at Edible Park. Edible Park serves as a 24/7 source of produce for our community. They will also place signs which identify each item in English and Spanish. Volunteers with any disability that prevents traditional farm work will help us sort seeds for easier and better distribution for our neighbors who would like to take advantage of this service. This task can be done by anyone in a wheelchair or with any other physical impairment that makes other volunteer opportunities more challenging. Project 3: Community flyering On Wednesday, September 11th, 30 volunteers will place flyers on each individual house on the Eastside of Lansing. These flyers will contain information about resources available to our neighbors and an invitation to join our Block Party taking place on September 20th. Volunteers are given maps and instructions and ANC Outreach staff contact information. This Block Party will bring together our community by providing a low barrier to entry method of engaging with the community and our center. At the Block Party, we are providing free food from our Maker Kitchen and local food co-op, and at the event, we are providing information about resources related to community building, urban farming, food and housing access, and our Veggie Box program. By flyering the Eastside neighborhood, the volunteers will ensure higher participation from a neighborhood that is highly transient and disproportionately living in poverty, and highly benefits from the resources that we offer. Ensuring that our community knows about the resources available to them is a high priority. Project 4: Veggie Box Education Our Veggie Box program is a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and allows folks in the Lansing region to buy a subscription to fresh, local food. Our CSA is a multi-farm model that unites dozens of growers and food producers to feed a common community. In our current season, Veggie Box serves 200 members between a Tuesday and Thursday distribution. 18 volunteers will place information about our Block Party and food resources, as well as information about highly subsidized Veggie Boxes, in the boxes that our members pick up every Tuesday and Thursday, and tabling during distribution to educate our members in person as well. Project 5: Youth Service Corps park clean up Youth Service Corps (YSC) is a community-driven, youth-led job and life skill development program for neighbors between the ages of 11-17. YSC was Allen Neighborhood Center’s very first program back in 1999 and grew out of a four-year-old 'healthy communities’ initiative that mobilized neighbors to create a more vibrant community on Lansing’s Eastside. Over two days, our Youth Service Corps will recruit 8 friends and classmates (all between the ages of 11-17) in an effort to clean Hunter Park. Adult chaperones will ensure that all cleanup crews are safe and will scout the area in advance for needles to ensure no risk for youth. Project 6: Farmers Market Education The Allen Farmers Market - the first market in the state of Michigan to accept SNAP benefits back in 2005 - is a neighbor-crafted solution to a systemic issue: food insecurity. Featuring locally grown, raised, and prepared foods as well as live entertainment and seasonal festivals, this year-round market offers a vibrant space for neighbors to connect with one another and community resources. On Wednesday, September 11th, 20 volunteers will educate the hundreds of farmers market attendees about our Block Party, resources for food access (including Double Up Food Bucks), and our Apple Festival (taking place on September 18th). They will be stationed at the entrance, market bank, and ANC table.

Please contact Sara Sherwood at sara@unitedwaylakeshore.org