Community Gardens
Local efforts to establish more community gardens in Macomb are underway and FIG members are contributing their expertise and their labor. Dr. Rob Porter of of the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration at Western Illinois University is coordinating the project. A United States Department of Agriculture grant proposal is being written to raise funds to establish the gardens. A grant like this requires the local community to match the contribution of the USDA and FIG has played a large role in providing that local contribution. The commitment of professional expertise, equipment, labor, and money from FIG is equivalent to more than $4,500.00. Dr. Porter spoke with NPR’s Rich Egger about the project.
FIG members volunteered over 200 hours of labor, over 30 hours of equipment use, and over $250. In addition to the work of Rob Porter, WIU faculty members and FIG members Heather McIlvaine-Newsad and Joel Gruver contributed their time and expertise to writing the grant. In the Peace Corps Fellows office at WIU Program Manager Karen Mauldin-Curtis and Internal Coordinator Karen Peitzmeier, both FIG members, worked to include a Peace Corps Fellow into the final draft of the grant. They were also the people that informed FIG about Dr. Porter’s community garden project and enabled FIG to make a commitment.
So what next? While we wait to hear if the USDA grant is approved it seems clear that there is support in Macomb for a new community garden project. Dr. Porter plans to call a planning meeting in early January 2010 to get the ball rolling Stay tuned!
