Calling All Volunteers: Help Establish Roots For The University Place Community Garden on Saturday

University Place will get the chance to build a c Saturday that organizers say is about more than vegetables and sprouts.

On Saturday, organizers — led by the Tacoma Narrows Rotary — will build boxes for the off 67^th Avenue West, east of a set of soccer fields at and fill them with soil. When completed and growing, the garden will benefit the food bank, which provides food and assistance to struggling families.

But for that to happen, organizers are looking for volunteers who will help make the garden reality.

Scott Seitz, president of the Tacoma Narrows Rotary, says the group hopes to build 48, 4-foot-by-12-foot boxes, level them and fill them with dirt. In order for things to go smoothly, he said, organizers plan to divide people into teams:

1. Build Teams (two to three people per team)

Purpose: They get the wood and screws and directions then assemble the boxes

Tools needed: cordless drills

2. Leveling Teams (two to three people team)

Purpose: They level the boxes, as well as line up the boxes with the site plan. They also drive two pieces of rebar in ground anchoring the boxes and keep them from bowing out.

Tools needed: two levels per team, shovel, hoe and 3-pound hammer

3. Soil teams  (three or four people per team)

Purpose: They fill the new boxes with fresh soil.

Tools needed: wheelbarrows, shovels and rake

*All tools brought to the site will be marked so they can find their way home. Please contact me with the tools you can bring as well as the teams you would like to help on.  We will have ‘recharging’ station for the cordless drills. Bring your charger with you.

All tools that volunteers bring to the site, Seitz said, will be marked so they go home with the right person.

"Many hands make like work, and this work should be enjoyable," he said. "Please schedule a few hours and make this dream come true ... and bring a few friends."

The event is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday at the garden site.

(Click the overhead map in the photo gallery for location details)

For more information, call Seitz at 253-353-4959, or visit the UP Community Garden website.

Volunteers can call him with the tools they can bring, as well as the teams of their choice. The site will have ‘recharging’ stations for cordless drills. Volunteers should bring their chargers.