Tomatoes. Beets. Peppers. For many families in Denver’s Westwood neighborhood, the Kepner Community Garden is the closest source of fresh food. For RMP Southwest students Grace and Antonio, it’s a way to give back.
“The more we harvest plants, the healthier the world gets,” Grace said.
On Thursday afternoons, you can find the siblings pulling weeds, planting seeds, and harvesting vegetables behind their school. The food grown by the Garden Club is distributed to families just blocks away.
The garden sprouted in 2009 as a partnership between Westwood families and Re:Vision, a not-for-profit community organization. Since then, Re:Vision has cultivated more than 2,000 neighborhood gardens, producing over half a million pounds of food for local residents.
This fall evening, the club celebrates with a harvest potluck. Beside them sits a heap of fresh vegetables ready to be doled out around the community. As they dig into arroz y pollo, the group reflects on why they do this work.
“It’s important to garden,” Antonio shares, “because we can save nature and learn lots of things.”
