How A Good Turn Week Project Blossomed Into A Community Garden

During November of 2008, Pack 11 was involved in a Good Turn Week Project called “Go Green With Scouts”.  The project required that 600 bags containing energy-saving devices and educational materials donated by Excel Energy to be assembled and distributed.  Since Pack 11 holds their meetings at Edison Elementary School located in Northwest Denver, 45 Scouts, parents and siblings distributed these energy-saving kits to 600 houses in the neighborhood surrounding Edison.

Danielle, an Edison neighbor, was the recipient of one of these kits.  She emailed the Scout office to thank them for the environmental gift bag and stated “In this time, when politics and environment are coming together, it is so important  for our communities youth to be involved in projects that can impact so many on a local level”.  Furthermore, she wanted to contact the Scouts and give them her thanks personally and work with the Scouts on community composting/gardening/recycling projects and “help keep this sustainability effort in the forefront of the Highlands neighborhood”.

Pack 11 put Danielle in contact with the Edison Adult Green Team and the vision of a community garden at Edison took root.  She made the initial contact to Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) while the Scouts continued to be involved by spreading the word by passing out 600 flyers (in the snow) to notify the neighbors about the plans for a community garden.  

The project continued to gain momentum over the next few months as Edison neighbors, parents and DUG finalized the details.  Two Edison parents, who are professional landscape architects, donated their talents and time to draw up the blueprints for the new garden.  In April, the Scouts, along with the surrounding Edison community, broke ground on the garden as everyone pitched in to plant the orchard and remove a gravel path so that the garden plots could be marked.  The community garden was born and the excitement continued throughout the spring, summer and into the fall as vegetables and flowers were planted and the garden grew. 

The garden was not the only thing that grew that year.  A sense of community around Edison Elementary grew too.  The neighbors who live around the school now feel more connected to Edison Elementary and enjoy teaching the school children about planting and growing a garden as they donate their time to help students plant their plots.  The students are amazed at their ability to plant a seed and watch it grow into food that they see on their kitchen table.  Edison parents are excited to be part of a community and school that has worked hard to do something that makes our neighborhood a better place to live.

Scouting is about developing good character to make good choices.  Watching a simple “Good Turn” seed blossom into a community garden is a lesson that will last a lifetime for the Scouts and parents of Pack 11 who assembled and delivered those 600 kits.    

Thank you David M. for sharing this Pack 11 experience.