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SU, Partners Receive $1,200 September 11 Day of Service and Remembrance Project Grant

Tuesday August 12, 2014

Stop the Violence - Start the Garden SALISBURY, MD---Students from Salisbury University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will spend September 11 not only remembering the tragic 2001 terrorist attacks that took place that day, but working with local children to make a difference in the community.

The Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism recently approved a $1,200 grant from the Maryland Volunteer Generation Fund for the project “Stop the Violence — Start the Garden.” The initiative will commemorate this year’s September 11 Day of Service and Remembrance.

The Wicomico Partnership for Families and Children, Stop the Violence Wicomico County, SU and UMES will collaborate on the project, which will offer classroom nutritional instruction for 10-15 local children in third through sixth grades. Sessions will be based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “A Yummy Curriculum” program.

On September 11, the youth will have the opportunity to apply what they learned by planting a community garden at Stop the Violence’s youth drop-in center, 509 Calloway St., Salisbury. Some 40 students from Dr. Chrys Egan’s Family Communication course at SU and Dr. Malinda Cecil’s Nutrition Practicum and Nutrition Education and Counseling courses at UMES will assist.

Volunteers will continue to work on a weekly basis to assist the youth in tending to the garden, expected to include beets, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower. The garden’s yield will help provide healthy meals to children attending Stop the Violence programs. Youth planting the garden will be allowed to take excess vegetables home to their families.

As part of the September 11 event, the collaborating agencies will solicit donations from local businesses, farmers markets and other agencies to provide items for a community food drive. Collected food will be distributed to area families who visit the Stop the Violence center from 4-6 p.m. that day, or while supplies last. The garden kickoff is scheduled from 3:30-6 p.m.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.