Healthy Kingston for Kids Garden Committee Seeks Volunteers

A Healthy Kingston for Kids Garden Committee is forming for 2010 and seeks volunteers to help build community and school gardens, among other tasks. To get the project rolling, committee co-chairs Julie Noble, environmental educator of the City of Kingston Parks and Recreation department, and Arthur Zaczkiewicz, co-founder of the Kingston Land Trust, are holding an informational session on Feb. 2 at the Kingston Land Trust office, which is located at 280 Wall Street, 2nd Floor, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“This project offers community members a chance to help make Kingston a healthy place for our children,” Zaczkiewicz said. “The work builds upon prior efforts in creating community and school gardens in Kingston.”

This committee’s primary objective aims to expand community and school gardens throughout the city. Members will work with other community members, parents, teachers, and youth to obtain access to resources for the construction and practical use of gardens. The committee’s work also includes developing ways to expand the distribution of fresh and local produce to neighborhoods that need it the most.

A Healthy Kingston for Kids is a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that is being led by Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County (CCEUC) along with several partners. The project’s goal is to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in Kingston through environmental and policy change. Partners include the City of Kingston, the Kingston City School District, the Kingston Land Trust, the Community Heart Health Coalition, Gilmour Planning, the Rose Women’s Care Service, and the Ulster County Health and Planning Departments.

For more information about the garden committee, contact Arthur Zaczkiewicz at: kingstonlandtrust@yahoo.com

For more information about A Healthy Kingston for Kids project, contact Kristen Wilson at: kew67@cornell.edu