BODY Club Plants Seeds for Community Garden

Flower power

Planting the crops

Constructing the planter beds

On Saturday, May 19, 2012, the BODY Club at Einstein launched its community garden project, inviting members of the local community, as well as from Einstein and Montefiore Medical Center, to attend the kick-off event at the garden's site on Pierce Avenue, just a short walk from Montefiore's Weiler Hospital. Both Einstein and Montefiore have supported the establishment of the garden, including providing the land where the garden is and assistance with building the planters, constructing the storage shed and mowing the lawn of the garden space.

BODY stands for Bronx Obesity, Diabetes, and You and the garden initiative is part of the club's mission to provide local residents and patients of Montefiore's hospital system, and their visitors access to fresh produce, demonstrations on how to prepare healthy meals, and a space for activities and meditation. At the kick-off event, students from the BODY Club were joined by members of the Explorers Club, a program for Bronx youth through the local police precinct, and representatives from Montefiore and the nearby community as they planted the garden's initial offering of crops in the raised wooden beds. These included an assortment of tomatoes, peppers, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, leafy greens, herbs and other vegetables.

The bounty from these plantings will be available to hospital patients and community members who volunteer their time over the summer to care for the plants. A variety of flowers and shrubs also were planted thanks a generous donation from Margaret Hamer, who heads up Montefiore's volunteer program. Preparation of the garden for the event also was aided by members of Montefiore's facilities team and by members of Einstein's facilities and groundskeeping crews.

For more information about garden hours, or how to get involved with the project, please contact the BODY Club at BODYCommunityGarden@gmail.com.