I’m happy to show up at the farm because I know someone will enjoy fresh food they otherwise wouldn’t because of our efforts. Given how many people are struggling right now, this service is more important now than ever!

I end my service with a complex array of feelings owing to the sad upheaval this pandemic has unleashed. Rising to the sudden unexpected challenges has proven no simple task in this line of service, though the positive developments we have managed to make are extremely rewarding and give hope for further adoption of distance teaching methods.

Though my service term has not looked quite how I thought it would due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been able to contribute to a valuable program that will thrive in the future thanks to the innovative and adaptive ability of our team to create a framework that will serve for years to come.

This quarter of my term was all about fire. A great strategy for invasive species removal and native species recruitment is to burn a section of prairie. I spent my time cutting fire line and mowing burn breaks in preparation for prescribed burns on the prairies.

My name is Annay, and I am an Americorps member serving at Edison Elementary School in Walla Walla, Wa through Washington Service Corps. Unfortunately because

The usual duties for my position (before the pandemic) included animal care, volunteer coordination, mentoring at-risk youth, and helping pre-school classes who visit the farm. Most of these responsibilities required in-person contact with our community, so after the pandemic, a lot of those responsibilities changed.

A project born out of World Relief’s Resiliency Program, “Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden” exists as green space to empower refugees, immigrants and the local community to improve food access, build community and foster economic independence.