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(Millbrook, NY) – With Spring in the air, and school almost over, the Green Teen program was invited to participate in the Common Ground Farm’s annual plant sale on May 6th, 2023. The sale was held at the corner of Main St. and Cross St. in Beacon. Green Teen offered packets of a pollinator seed mix, including seeds donated by Common Ground and the City of Beacon.
“We are so excited to have dedicated local youth hired to distribute food they have grown and harvested through the Common Ground Farm and our Free Farm Stand, and we are hoping to encourage additional community support through grass-roots fundraising,” said Samantha Britain, Green Teen Program Manager. “They are working so hard to give food directly to their community, but stuff like t-shirts, gloves and hand sanitizer can get expensive.”
Green Teen, which will celebrate its 20th year in 2024, serves the Beacon community through two programs: the work-to-learn youth employment program, where participants ages 14-18 are hired to plant and maintain the program’s garden on West Center St, and the recently developed Club Green Teen, an afterschool program for youth ages 12-14. Since 2020, Green Teen has also operated a free farm stand, in which all produce grown by the program is donated back to the community each summer. Green Teen has also recently expanded into Poughkeepsie via a partnership with Nubian Directions.
Green Teen is fundraising for general operating costs of the program that include branded items like team shirts and water bottles, cleaning supplies, gardening tools and gas money for the Green Teen Bus you may see around Dutchess County. The Common Ground Farm’s annual plant sale did raise about $500. Program staff are hoping to triple that amount through fundraising and potential sponsorship opportunities.
Donating is easy! Please visit https://ccedutchess.org/donate and scroll to the option that says, "make a general donation to one of our many programs” to select “Green Teen.”
For more information this program, please visit the website: https://ccedutchess.org/youth-4h or call Program Leader Jane Rodd, (845) 677-8223 ext. 105. You can also follow Green Teen Beacon on Facebook and Instagram: @greenteenbeacon!
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