Think all kids are spending their summer inside playing video games? Think again.
A group of teenagers from Lawrence is out in Windham, N.H., and up to their elbows in dirt. But they're not fooling around. They're growing vegetables to help feed the poor.
Ten Lawrence teenagers are learning about farming from Scott Johnson, who owns Johnson's Highland View Farm in Windham. The teenagers are members of the Green Team, a program of Groundwork Lawrence that aims to teach the young people the importance of fresh, local food.
The teenagers — among them are Jesenia Lopez, Jennifer Pagan, Christopher Montes, Gyna Santana and Crismela Minaya — will visit the farm once a week through August to tend vegetable patches and harvest the produce. Johnson donates the vegetables harvested to Neighbors in Need, an organization that runs 11 food pantries in Lawrence and Methuen.
The fresh vegetables are a boon to the food pantries, which usually deal strictly with nonperishable items.
"I'm happy as a clam knowing we can provide fresh food to people who can't otherwise get it," Executive Director Linda Zimmerman told reporter Yadira Betances.
Last year, Neighbors in Need received more than 1,000 pounds of vegetables from Johnson's farm. Residents of elderly complexes also receive vegetables.
The teens are learning what is involved in the production of the food they eat while enjoying the chance to help their communities.
"It's hard work, but it's worth it," Santana said. "At the end you feel a sense of accomplishment because you know the little thing you did helped feed a whole bunch of people."
The Green Team program deserves praise for serving a variety of worthy goals. It gets city kids out of the house and out into the country, where they learn new skills and something about where their food comes from. At the same time, local food pantries and their clients benefit from a harvest of fresh vegetables.
Congratulations all around.
