Volunteer opportunities available with The Edible Peace Patch Project

Volunteer opportunities available with The Edible Peace Patch Project

Nonprofit looking for help to maintain educational gardens in South St. Petersburg schools

St. Petersburg, Fla. (August 17, 2016) – The Edible Peace Patch Project is looking for volunteers to donate their time to various programs to help maintain several schoolyard gardens in South St. Petersburg. The Peace Patch builds and maintains educational gardens in six Title I elementary schools and one non-Title 1 elementary school in South St. Petersburg, including Lakewood, Maximo, Campbell Park, Fairmount, Melrose, John Hopkins and Sanderlin.

The following volunteer opportunities are available:

• Monthly garden service days to help maintain the gardens with such tasks as planting, weeding, general maintenance and harvesting. The typical workday runs from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Garden and compost crew work to pick up compost from partnering donor sites
• Assisting with Wellness Kitchen events where All Children's Fit4AllKids students spend a day at the gardens to learn about nutrition and healthy cooking solutions using fresh produce (including produce from the gardens). Volunteer duties include portable kitchen set-up and aiding students with cooking activities.

The Edible Peace Patch relies on volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and holds events throughout the year and could use additional help in a variety of areas including community outreach events, administrative assistance and special events.

Training for new volunteers begins Sept. 20 at The Edible Peace Patch office in St. Petersburg. Four additional sessions are scheduled for Sept. 29, Oct. 6 and Oct. 13. Volunteers are required to have a Pinellas County background check and volunteer forms submitted by Sept. 16 at 5 p.m.

If interested in volunteering, please contact The Edible Peace Patch’s Education Director Kelli Harper at Kelli@peacepatch.org or visit www.peacepatch.org

About The Edible Peace Patch

Established in January 2009, the Edible Peace Patch began when a group of ambitious Eckerd College students and their Environmental Studies professor built a schoolyard garden to teach students how to grow vegetables and be active participants in their environment. The organization installs educational gardens in Title I schools, and now has gardens in seven schools in South St. Petersburg, Fla. The mission of the Edible Peace Patch is to cultivate healthy minds and bodies through hands-on educational gardens to help grow successful lives and communities.