Volunteers Needed this Summer to Help Maintain Community Garden

Be Well-Lake County needs local volunteers to help build and maintain its community garden. Volunteers can help for an hour or two, or a full afternoon. The schedule is flexible, and help is needed with setting up garden boxes, moving mulch, and other steps to ready and maintain the garden.

Be Well is a collaboration between NorthShore University HealthSystem and the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center, providing high quality diabetes treatment, education, and support resources to medically underserved patients.

Because fresh produce plays an integral role in managing diabetes, an important part of the program is the community garden that is replanted every June. The garden opens on June 12th, but due to its continued success, there is a great need for volunteers to help prepare the garden as well as maintain it throughout the summer. Many of the patients served by Be Well live in an area deemed a "food desert". With only one small grocery store in the area and limited access to fresh produce, patients rely on the community garden for healthy food options.

Those interested in volunteering should contact Julie Krohn, Be Well Lake County Diabetes Program Coordinator at (847) 377-8561 or jkrohn@lakecountyil.gov,