AmeriCorps is leading the way in the battle against poverty in Knoxville.
Five key charitable organizations in the Knoxville area will be welcoming AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers to help in “Good Food for All,” a program preceded by the 2013 “Edible Schoolyard Project” which brought a sustainable urban garden to Pond Gap Elementary.
Since 2010, University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) program coordinator Mark Benson and director Robert Kronick have sought to enrich the Pond Gap community, home to the most diverse population in the city, through providing support and essential services such as free after-school care, language classes, and tutoring.
“A community school should be a hub,” Kronick said. “It should be a place of excitement and vibrancy where, if something goes wrong in your life and you need help, you go there. Many of the kids (at Pond Gap) have more stress, anxiety, and problems now than ever before, and we work to alleviate these issues through collaboration, prevention, and systems thinking.”
Shortly after the Outreach AmeriCorps VISTA, Matt Callo, the garden project manager, volunteered to work with Annie Gray, Pellissippi’s service-learning coordinator, to build a community garden, sealing their partnership with UACS.
“We had our eye on helping create an educational pipeline of interest in food, agriculture, and human sciences that could begin in elementary school,” Gray said.
Constructed in the fall of 2013 by hundreds of service-learning students and a scattering of other volunteers, Pond Gap’s 2500 square foot community garden now provides fresh produce for the Pond Gap community as well as Knox County Schools. Elementary students also have the opportunity to work in the garden after school as part of Callo’s “Land Scouts.”
Susan Espiritu, principal of Pond Gap, gave the program her accolade.
“(The kids) were so vested in the process that when vegetables were harvested, they couldn’t wait to try them,” Espiritu said. “Even radishes became a hit. It has been a wonderful thing for families who have put sweat equity into the garden in return for produce to take home. Likewise, the garden has provided vegetables for six Knox County school cafeterias. It has been tremendously successful.”
As project manager for the garden, Callo sees the project going beyond Pond Gap.
“We hope this garden will serve as a demonstration garden for students at Pellissippi who want to get a certificate of urban agriculture,” Callo said. “More specifically, we’re trying to teach people how to grow food in the city,” he said.
If current trends are any indication, Callo’s hopes could come true.
In addition to the VISTA position with UACS, AmeriCorps and Pellissippi will be sending volunteers to Knoxville’s Food Policy Council, Second Harvest Food Bank, GreatSchools and UT TSU extension, Knox County, where the VISTAs are expected to build organizational capacities and work together toward the common goal of poverty alleviation.
For volunteer opportunities with UACS, contact Dr. Robert Kronick at [email protected].
