BU Students Jumpstart Slow Food Movement at Boys & Girls Club

Boys and Girls Planting for Health was held on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, at the Boys and Girls Club of Boston's Blue Hill Club. The event was to build Blue Hill Club a working garden to teach its members about responsibility, healthy living, sustainability and the slow food movement. 

Garden bed experts from Slow Food Boston were on hand during the morning to advise Nature's Sustainers on building the garden beds as well as discuss the significance of them.

After Boys and Girls Club members started arriving, Anastacia Salcedo, the Promotion and Community Manager from Slow Food Boston, showed twelve kids how to use slow food in their everyday lives by making burritos while talking about what slow food is and why it is important. After the demonstration, the kids took the opportunity to ask questions one-on-one with Salcedo about gardening, cooking and slow food.

"Giving the kids experiences they wouldn't typically have is what makes being here amazing," says Blue Hill Club Social Worker Callie Gaherty. Gaherty will be leading a gardening club at Blue Hill that all members will participate in over the summer.

Nature's Sustainers, a community relations class from Boston University made up of 10 students, four graduate and six undergraduate, cleaned out two areas at Blue Hill Club for gardens by removing shrubs, raking and weeding. Boys and Girls Club members will be responsible for tending to the gardens and the food produced will be used in the Patriots Kids Cafe at the Club. Sounds like these students have a summer of dedication ahead of them, which will hopefully have a beautiful turn out!

For more information, contact Laura Castro at l.c.castr@gmail.com or (413) 210-8627.