Wilkes-Barre City Health Department Kicks off Community Garden Growing Season
The Wilkes-Barre City Health Department will kick off the Community Garden growing season on Tuesday, June 13th at 1:30 PM at Restored Church, 74 South Meade Street, Wilkes-Barre.
The goal of the city’s community gardens is to increase and sustain access to fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables and to reach residents in every neighborhood.
This year, there are four community garden participants; New Roots Recovery Center on Water Street, The Greenhouse on South Franklin Street, The Blight Committee Garden at 445 South River Street, and The Restored Church on South Meade Street. The gardens are operated by staff and volunteers.
The 2023 Community Garden spokesperson is Jessica Letteer, who will lend her expertise in gardening to the program. This spring, Letteer, volunteer Mary Ann Petyak, and Health Educator David Yonki attended a Penn State Extension (Wilkes-Barre) seminar to learn how to enhance procedures and skills when cultivating community gardens. Throughout the summer, the gardens will be attended to by volunteers to ensure fall harvest.
The 2022 community garden season yielded 41 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and plants totaling 791 pounds.
This project is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant.