G W S
Groundwork Somerville is thrilled to be working with students at every Somerville elementary school this fall! "Garden Club" participants have been busy collecting seeds, harvesting, cooking, eating, and playing games surrounded by the plants, bugs, and birds that live in our garden ecosystems. As Maya Jaugust from Argenziano School says, "Gardening is good because we help the plants and animals live. I really liked planting!" This fall we learned why leaves change color, how to toast pumpkin seeds, and how to put our gardens "to bed" for the winter. In the first week of November, the gardens experienced their first frost and we watched our vegetable plants reach the end of their life cycle. Pulling dead plants out of the gardens, composting them, and mulching the garden beds will kept us very busy in November. Generous parent donations allowed clubs at Kennedy School and Brown School to plant flower bulbs and promote school beautification. After working for an hour removing dead plants and tilling the soil, Argenziano Kindergarten student Camilla Gomez exclaimed, "garden club is very very very good! It's good because we get to plant stuff and because together we can shovel a lot of dirt!" Check out Elizabeth Sheeran's article about Groundwork Somerville's school yard garden programs in the Somerville News! Check us at in the Somerville News! Want to help sustain our extensive Garden Club line-up through the winter and spring? Groundwork Somerville seeks volunteers willing to make a weekly commitment for a 10 week period (Jan. 3 - March 25th ) to assist the lead Garden Educator! Slots are available M-F from 3 - 4 or 3 - 5:20 pm. Donations of seeds, bulbs, perennials, soil, trellising equipment, garden tools, or money are also great ways to support Groundwork Somerville. Please contact [email protected] if you have garden materials you would like to donate. ************************************************************* Green Team
On December 5th, join the Green Team at the Somerville Hispanic Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Cross Street in East Somerville from 1-4pm! The Groundwork Somerville Green Team and Somerville Climate Action will jointly host the first of three Living Green Festivals. These festivals are designed to provide a fun, educational opportunity to residents of Somerville's environmental justice communities of East Somerville and Clarendon Hill. The festivals will educate residents on the necessity of conservation, provide tips for reducing energy costs, and work to actively engage individuals in envisioning a greener future for their neighborhoods. Workshops on home energy conservation will be held throughout the day in both English and Spanish. A kids' station with activities and games will allow families with children of all ages to attend. All attendees will receive a free compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL). CFL bulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than regular, incandescent bulbs. Each regular bulb you replace with a CFL could save you $8 each year. ******************************************
Community Corridor Planning
CCP's Green Working Group is joining forces with Teen Empowerment to bring an infusion of youth excitement and creativity to our mission. Two days before Thanksgiving, the Green Working Group convened. With a completed Action Agenda ready for community input at the December 2nd meeting, and a record number of active Green Working Group participants, 2010 is wrapping up on a great note, with optimism for more productive collaboration in 2011! Join us on Thursday, December 2nd to voice your opinions on how we should use the land around the Green Line Extension! What: Community Corridor Planning Community Meeting Where: Capuano School - 150 Glen Street, Somerville When: Thursday, December 2nd from 6:30-8:30pm Why: To voice your opinion!
************************************************************************ National Park Preservers
Over the past year, GWS was lucky enough to work with two National Parks (Saugus Iron Works and the Minute Man National Historical Park), allowing us to hire 16 full-time job trainees, learning hands-on historical renovation skills. Through this program, we also engaged over 500 community members and staff in over 7,800 hours of community service, valued at approximately $176,000 in people time. Sadly, the program is coming to an end in just one short month. If you are in need of new staff, we have an amazing group of young people who are highly motivated and skilled! Please get in touch if you're interested.
************************************************************ Mystic River Work
2010 was an amazing year of new partnerships, friendships and community engagement along the Mystic River for Groundwork Somerville. A major thank you goes out to the Mystic River Watershed Association and the 4 boat clubs along the waterfront in Medford and Somerville (Winter Hill, Medford, Mystic Wellington and Riverside!). Over the course of the summer, we convened over 125 residents in removing 7,500 pounds of invasive water chestnuts from the River. We also hired five young adults to remove another 30,000 pounds of water chestnut. In addition to this amazing work, we hired Aquatic Control Technologies to mechanically remove 160,000 pounds in August, and an AmeriCorps NCCC team to remove 35,000 pounds in six weeks!
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