MA FRESH Grant Recipient: South Shore YMCA

Grant Recipient: South Shore YMCA

South Shore YMCA Preschool students, clad in raincoats of every color, marched through the rain and puddles to their outdoor classroom on Monday. They had their scheduled garden lesson with Farmer Kate, and were curious about, but quickly ignored the over two dozen Farm to School champions gathered near them to observe the three sisters lesson, held in the South Shore YMCA’s Family Farm. 

The South Shore YMCA was one of 17 MA FRESH grantees this spring. Their MA FRESH Grant brought together 87 teachers from their early education centers to learn how to implement farm to school curriculum in their classrooms and gardens. The event they hosted on Monday celebrated the success of various state and federal grant programs that supported their dream to turn a vacant lot into growing spaces for their students and the community. The Family Farm has been years in the making, and now  hosts fruit, vegetable, and pollinator gardens, a greenhouse, chicken coop, apiary, barn, and shade pavillion, and they have plans for more transformations in the years to come. Produce grown on site is used by students and also donated to area food pantries.

Attendees of the event included Massachusetts State Senator Walter Timilty, State Representative David DeCoste, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeff Riley, DESE Food and Nutrition Program leadership and staff, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) Commissioner Amy Kershaw and staff, as well as staff from Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA),  United States Department of Agriculture Farm to School (USDA), YMCA local and regional offices.