2020-CANCELLED: New Volunteers Only: Evening Gardening @ Denver's Observatory Park

Start Date-End Date: 06/04/2020-06/04/2020 Land Manager Office: Grow Local Colorado Land Manager Contact: Barbara Masoner Funding Partner: Grow Local Colorado Programmatic Partner: Grow Local Colorado Summary: Plant vegetable gardens with Grow Local Colorado! For volunteers ages 8+. Description: Where You'll Be: Observatory Park is a small, yet spacious park near the University of Denver (DU) campus. Home to DU's historic Chamberlin Observatory, the park also boasts century-old trees, an extensive playground area, and vast open fields perfect for picnicking or a pickup game of Frisbee. What You'll Do: Looking for an easy way to get outside and give back to your community? Look no further! Through our long-standing partnership with Grow Local Colorado, volunteers ages 8+ will spend the evening preparing and planting vegetable gardens in Denver's Observatory Park. While Grow Local will maintain the gardens throughout the summer, VOC will return in the fall to help harvest the vegetables, which will be donated to local residents in need. Please Note:These evening gardening projects are a great introduction to VOC and, with fewer than 10 volunteers, provide a great opportunity to get to know your fellow gardeners! As such, we have reserved this project for first-time volunteers. Please contact Kendall at kendall@voc.org or 303-715-1010 ext. 116 to sign up. If you are not a first-time volunteer, please check out our other Evening Gardening projects at voc.org/volunteer. We will have another round of Evening Harvesting projects announced in the Fall. Why It Matters: The vegetables that volunteers plant will be harvested in the fall and donated to local food banks, homeless shelters, and families in need. This partnership with Grow Local Colorado creates a more connected community; demonstrates the beauty and efficacy of edible gardens; inspires residents to plant their own vegetable gardens; and contributes to a more sustainable food chain by reducing our carbon footprint. Need-to-Know Details: Minors under 16 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects. VOC will provide all equipmentincluding tools and work gloves. Cancellation:Our partners rely on VOC volunteers to accomplish critical stewardship needs, and our projects often have wait lists. If you need to cancel,pleaseemailKendall Cox or call 303-715-1010 ext. 116 as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce. About Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is the state's oldest, largest, and leading outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization. Founded in 1984 to motivate and enable people to become active stewards of Colorado's natural resources, VOC has engaged nearly 125,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $25 million. Through award-winning youth and volunteer programs, leadership training, capacity-building programs, and collaborative efforts with nonprofits and land management agencies, VOC is an invaluable resource in Colorado, especially as our outdoor stewardship needs are approaching near-crisis levels. For more information, visit www.voc.org or call 303-715-1010. Latitude/Longitude: 39.7345542, -104.988121 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 8 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: Total Youth Volunteers Attended: Total Volunteer Days: Total Unique Volunteers: Total Volunteer Hours: 0 Staff Hours: 0 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Successes and Challenges: Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: