Are you age 11-17 and interested in helping your community grow? If so, Allen Neighborhood Center’s Youth Service Corps (YSC) needs you!
YSC members working at the GardenHouse
The mission of the YSC is to provide safe, enriching after school and summer activities for Eastside youth where they can make friends and learn job and life skills while serving their community.
YSC meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. during the school year, and various other times in the summer. They gather in the Hunter Park Community Gardenhouse to devise and work on various service projects such as our Garden In A Box program. In 2008, we placed 24 small raised bed gardens with neighbors in the Eastside, and provided mentoring to box holders to help optimize the experience of our new gardeners, thanks to funding from the City of Lansing’s Department of Human Relations and Community Services. We will be planting and helping to troubleshoot those 24 again in 2009 and placing 24 more, with generous support from the Capital Region Community Foundation.
Another successful Garden In A Box
We do work in the Hunter Park Community Garden House, growing healthy foods to contribute to ANC’s Breadbasket program and to sell at our Farmer’s Market.We’ve recently begun to grow food in the GardenHouse to sell to local restaurant chefs. Finally, we also do other service work like helping to deliver ANC’s Eastside Neighbor newsletter, going on neighborhood litter patrols and doing yard work for neighbors in need.
Writing a letter to the president
In addition, youth ages 13-17 are working on the curriculum for Peace Jam (www.peacejam.org) on Wednesdays from 3:30 – 5:30. We are studying the work and methods of Nobel Peace Laureates and examining causes, effects, forms and dimensions of violence, and devising and implementing ways that we can address the roots of violence to create a more peaceful community and planet. This work will culminate in some of our YSC members attending the Great Lakes Peace Jam conference in March to meet with Nobel Peace Laureate, Jody Williams and to present our work.
YSC at Wharton Center
We also offer group outings and celebrations regularly for YSC members to local attractions as an expression of our gratitude for the service that our members provide. Among venues we’ve visited recently are Impression 5 Science Museum and Wharton Center for the Performing Arts.
Want to learn more? Call Neil at 999-3923 or email him at neilb@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.