Volunteers Revitalize La Tijera School Garden

In partnership with nearly 100 volunteers from Chase’s The Fellowship Initiative (TFI) youth cohort and local community members, SJLI spent 3 hours on January 20, 2018 revitalizing a garden at Inglewood’s La Tijera Middle School.  Led by SJLI’s Health Equity team that exists to provide our communities with access to fresh whole foods, clean and safe spaces, and quality environments, volunteers were guided in the following activities to revitalize SJLI’s La Tijera Middle School garden:

• Removed weeds and trash accumulating in garden beds
• Laid down cardboard over soil
• Shoveled and transported wood chips
• Replenished soil levels in garden beds
• Broke down and removed dried brush
• Conducted waste removal
• Broke down unwanted plants and placed them in green biodegradable bins,
• Raked in wood chips and layered the ground over cardboard.

The completion of these tasks surpassed our expectations for the day and made this garden revitalization a tremendous success thanks to the hard work of our volunteers. The soil restoration activities that volunteers performed are part of an integral phase in revitalizing gardens and ensuring that soil is healthy enough to produce high-quality fruits and vegetables. Simultaneously, garden volunteers were educated on the importance of each activity performed during the garden build, and how they contribute to creating better air and soil quality within the city of Inglewood.