Program at The Neighborhood Center in Camden Teaches Farming, Life Skills

CAMDEN – Nearly every weekday for the past six weeks, soon-to-be 10th grader Kayla Wilson's alarm clock has rung between 7:10 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., about two hours earlier than on weekends.

“I get everything done (at home) as quickly as I can because I try to be as punctual and on time as I can,” the Audubon Junior/Senior High School student told TAPinto Camden.

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Her destination? To participate in The Neighborhood Center's Teen Farm Summer Program, which started on June 24 and ends on August 16. Wilson was one of five teenagers from Camden and the surrounding area accepted into the program, which helps with the upkeep of the center’s 9-year-old garden and provides healthy food to the center’s clients via its day camp, Friday Family Table, and bagged lunch programs.

Some may think a farming job within city limits is a contradiction or oxymoron, but Natasha Roach, director of nutrition and agriculture at The Neighborhood Center, said no.

“Fresh food is not (always) available and green space is limited in an urban environment,” Roach said in an interview. “It makes sense for us to create as many green spaces as possible for people to be involved in. Beyond food, it can be good for your mental health to put your hands in the dirt, and seeing where your food comes from can put a new perspective on when, where and what to eat.”

Wilson and the other program participants arrive on time most days and perform tasks such as using leftover bricks to reinforce the fencing around beds to prevent groundhog damage, implementing organic techniques to deal with pest control, and learning how to water plants properly, along with pruning, weeding, harvesting, hand-pollinating and mulching. The 2024 program participants also grew collard greens, kale, Swiss chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, peaches, apples, pears, strawberries and cherries with the help of a $20,000 grant from Campbell's, Roach said.

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Other program expectations include improving communication skills, working as a team, honing time management skills, expressing creativity and thinking independently, according to Roach.

The program also provided some participants with unanticipated benefits.

“My mother loves gardening, and she would want me to experience this,” Wilson said, adding that since she enrolled in the program, “we have gone to stores together and picked out flowers together… The program has helped with our bonding experience.”

Added Kori Gaston, who is about to enter her freshman year at LEAP Academy: “Gardening gives you patience… you cannot rush into things.”

Roach, who said she worked in the cleaning, grocery and ornamental landscaping industries before arriving at The Neighborhood Center in January, also said she benefitted from the program.

“I have had a few times throughout the season where the teens will say they learned something new today,” Roach said. “That’s a really good feeling when you expose teens to something they have never seen before or explain something that they may have had a vague idea about but did not have the details about it.”

Roach also said she and center volunteers will be more involved in the garden’s upkeep now that the program is completed. In the future, she said, she hopes Teen Program participants can help her expand the garden.

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