Pilot Program Exceeds Expectations

When a teenager participates in the Clarksville Food Project, he/she typically assumes it’s little more than a way to earn some extra money for the summer. However, when that same teenager actually begins digging, he discovers that it’s about a whole lot more.

The Food Project is one of three programs under Mission Clarksville. Yes, on the surface our program is definitely a paid internship for teenagers. But deep down it’s really about relationship, hard work, personal discovery, diversity, and team spirit. It’s also an incredible and deeply effective way to introduce our future generations to the land, the environment, health, and sustainability.

Two weeks ago we concluded a three day pilot program for our Food Project. We took 12 teenagers from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds and put them to work harvesting and packaging vegetables at Doalnara Organic Farm about an hour outside of Clarksville. Thanks to a $100 sponsorship from many of you, our 12 interns were given this remarkable and pioneering opportunity in our community. Their internship began on Wednesday as our teens spent a brief half day getting to know one another and engaging each other in team-building exercises at Christ Presbyterian Church. They also received a lesson on the earth and composting.

On Thursday our interns were awakened at 5:00 a.m., driven out to Doalnara Farm, and put to work in the garden harvesting vegetables, sorting them with the Doalnara Korean farmers, and assembling them for delivery to Clarksville. That evening they also managed and ran our CSA. With smiles on their faces they passed out boxes of delicious vegetables, checked people off the sign-up list, handed out special thank you packets of seeds, and finished a long day with a great spirit and a positive attitude.

On Friday they also hand-delivered left over vegetables to the Loaves & Fishes Food Bank in downtown Clarksville.

Every single teenager was impacted by this program. Every one of them is eager to do it again. Every one of them thinks it would be a fantastic way of helping at-risk teenagers rediscover a sense of meaning and integrity. Every one of them found themselves overcoming initial shyness in meeting strangers for the first time, but then each again found new friends in the process.

I cannot express to you how successful our pilot program was. We also filmed some great footage for our promotional video which we hope to begin showing for our Fall fund raising campaign, so you can look for that. We plan to eventually embed the video on our gradually evolving website.

Exciting things are afoot here in Clarksville. People are really coming together for the greater good of our community. Yes, we’re just beginning, but our first steps are looking strong!

Growing a Community

When it comes to organic gardening, it’s all about the soil. You can have brilliant planning, good seeds, and a healthy attitude, but without plenty of nutrients and a good soil structure, your vegetables will not flourish. Every organic gardener knows that healthy soil produces healthy plants and that healthy plants are better equipped to resist insects and disease.

I’m convinced that the same holds true when it comes to growing communities. Like a garden, a healthy community also requires plenty of nutrients and a good structure, and that’s exactly our hope and intention with Mission Clarksville. Right now we’re working hard and taking the necessary steps to properly work the soil and build a rich, lasting foundation. We’re establishing relationships. We’re meeting and listening with community leaders, residents, and organizations. We’re sharing ideas, we’re developing our programs and organization, we’re sowing a field that, if done correctly, will bear fruit for years and years to come. We’re also implementing a number of ideas and new initiatives that are serving as the initial, life-giving organic matter for the long-term communities we’re seeking to grow. From our Food Project pilot program this week to our meetings with potential youth leaders, to our amazingly productive conversation with the Clarksville Housing and Community Development Office, our strategy is to be patient and deliberate in the way in which we interact and develop our network.

This is a preparation year, and we know that. We’re building healthy soil. We’re building up one another. It’s how we grow.