KCMO - Grahovac's Army of Volunteers

Grahovac's Army of Volunteers - Gardening with Urban Farmers Weekly Meetup will happen on Saturday, April 2, 2011 When: Saturday, April 2, 2011 8:00 AM Where: Faith Lutheran Church - 530 Quindaro Kansas City KS Who is going: 1 Volunteers ( 19 more spots left! )

We doing gardening work with low-income urban farmers who sell their produce at Farmer's Markets and use the rest of what they grow to feed their families.

"Volunteers reported they "had a blast" helping the low-income urban farmers..."

KU Med students help out KCK urban farmers

Posted by on August 2, 2010 - 9:35am

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• University of Kansas Medical Center
• Volunteerism

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Courtesy of Paul Grahovac

On Thursday, July 29, 14 University of Kansas Medical Center students descended on two vacant lots in northeast Kansas City, Kan., previously the site of drug houses, and in a torrent and flurry of work over a period of five hours weeded, harvested, washed, weighed, recorded, and packaged organically-grown vegetables to be sold in suburban farmers markets throughout the Greater Kansas City area.

Nineteen students worked at the New Roots for Refugees farm in the Juniper Gardens public housing project just off the Fairfax Exit on Interstate 70.

The other 35 students worked on eight other urban farms in the KCK area.

Diane Hentges, Director of the United Way of Wyandotte County Volunteer Center, made the match based on a smaller event she arranged this spring – after nine KUMC volunteers reported they "had a blast" helping the low-income urban farmers.

She recognized when she was contacted by Grahovac's Army of Volunteers that helping urban farmers was a worthwhile cause and volunteer opportunity.

Paul Grahovac's group is focused on helping urban farmers in KCK's inner-city -- the Oak Grove neighborhood around 5th & Quindaro.

"We knew we could handle 20 volunteers, but when Diane asked if we could handle up to 75, I got KCCUA involved," says Grahovac.

The Oak Grove Farm Business Program is led by Isaac Jefferson and is an Affiliate Farm of the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture (KCCUA) located in KCK.

Katherine Kelley, KCCUA Executive Director, quickly tasked Ami Freeberg and the rest of her staff with allocating volunteers to ten urban farms in Wyandotte County.

"With the growing interest in healthy eating, chemical-free vegetables, and local food production, I think we're going to see more and more people want to be part of it through volunteering," said Grahovac, who led the Oak Grove KUMC volunteers when they met at 5th and Haskell in KCK.

http://www.kansascitykansan.com/blogs/ku-med-students-help-out-kck-urban-farmers/7953