On Friday August 21, Bronx Community Service Staff members along with
nine BCS clients headed up to the
Bryant Hill Community Garden in Hunts Point for a
beautification and back-to-school event. We met with Lucia Hernandez, who has been the caretaker of the Garden for around ten years. BCS has partnered with this Garden
in the past, even collaborating on a small grant to provide
beautification work earlier this year. Ms. Hernandez shared a little history
of the Garden with the participants, then continued on explaining the work for the day, which
consisted of pruning, removing weeds, opening and re-building walking pads to facilitate navigation through the garden. While one of the groups was working, the other
group prepared book bags with school supplies to distribute to the kids
in the community. This was made possible by partnering with
WorldVision and World
Changers Church. As all this work was going on, BCS staffer Omar Camacho was
grilling hot dogs and hamburgers provided by
Senator Ruben Diaz. The
beverages were provided by Natalie Carlo, Event Supervisor
from Talking Rain Beverage Company. Pastor Reggie and his wife from Real Life
Church participated by providing activities for the kids, such as a bouncy
house, face painting and music.
It was an awesome event that demonstrated the best that community service can do - bringing together defendants with the community, doing positive work to make a public space better while collaborating with community leaders and partners. We were all really happy to be a part of this project.
Check out a slideshow of photos from the day here: BCS at the Bryant Hill Garden
- Moises Reyes
Coordinator of Community Service and Initiatives
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