2021-Weekday Afternoon: Community Food Gardening @ Denver's Harvard Gulch Park

Start Date-End Date: 05/27/2021-05/27/2021 Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation Land Manager Contact: Barbara Masoner Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Grow Local Colorado Summary: THIS PROJECT IS WAITLISTED: Plant vegetable gardens with Grow Local Colorado! For volunteers 8+. Description: Read Before You Register! Need-to-Know Details: We greatly appreciate you volunteering your time and energy to care for Colorado's outdoor places during COVID-19. To help provide a fun and safe experience for all, there are a few temporary changes to be prepared for: You may only register yourself. Every volunteer must sign our digital COVID-specific forms ahead of time to be able to attend. You must provide your own food. VOC will not be providing meals at this time. You must bring work gloves. Please click here for our full packing list of required and recommended items. If you are fully vaccinated,you may work without a mask. If you are not yet fully vaccinated or if you prefer to wear a mask for any reason, please continue to wear a mask on VOC projects. We will have spare masks available if needed. Cancellation & Waitlists: Due to limited spots on this year's projects, we expect projects to fill quickly with waitlists. If you need to cancel, please email outreach@voc.org as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce. If you are waitlisted for multiple projects, please call us at 303-715-1010 ext. 116 and we can help you find an open project, if available. Where You'll Be: Located in the south Denver neighborhood of Platt Park, Harvard Gulch Park spans multiple blocks and is popular with residents for running and volleyball. The park is also the homebase for Colorado State University's Denver Extension Office, Master Gardeners, who grew all the plants we will be planting. 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 Harvard Gulch 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 very popular and have limited space. We ask that you please give others the chance to participate by signing up for just one gardening project this Spring. Thank you! 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. 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 126,000 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: 39.67445, -105.03818 Additional Information: Please bring a well-fitted face mask and work gloves.If you are fully vaccinated,you may work without a mask. If you are not yet fully vaccinated or if you prefer to wear a mask for any reason, please continue to wear a mask on VOC projects. We will have spare masks available if needed. Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 8 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 9 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 9 Total Unique Volunteers: 9 Total Volunteer Hours: 21 Staff Hours: 5 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: On Thursday, May 27th 8 VOC volunteers came out to Harvard Gulch Park to help Grow Local Colorado and the CSU-Extension Office's Master Gardeners to help plant seeds and starter plants for the growing season. The volunteers worked with the Master Gardeners to plant the 900 sq. foot garden. They planted a variety of veggies including (but not limited to) tomatoes, squash, chard, and peppers, that will all be donated to a nearby food pantry. This garden is estimated to produce over 1000 of food this season. Successes and Challenges: This was our first time trying a "lunchtime" gardening project. We had no problem filling the project with volunteers and had a 30 person waitlist. It was warm, but it would have been warm at 5 pm that night as well. I suggest we continue offering at least one afternoon garden project for volunteers along with our regular evening opportunities. Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: