Children’s Learning Garden produce to benefit local charity

Each summer, the Lewes in Bloom Children’s Learning Garden project holds weekly activities at its garden in Lewes’ Stango Park.

Due to ongoing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, the activities for this year have been canceled.

Typically, its popular programs introduce young children to pollinators and pests, and the joy of working in the garden. Once a week, Jen Noonan, children’s librarian at Lewes Public Library, reads garden-related books. Weekly programs focus on ladybugs, honeybees, butterflies or other creatures found in the garden. An arts and crafts project follows. At the end of each session, the children are able to pick their own vegetables, fruits and herbs as they become available throughout the season to take home.

Everyone involved is disappointed that the children will not be able to participate in the program this year, but all are looking forward to their return in the future.

So that the bounty from the garden will not go to waste, Nancy Phillips, chair and founder of the Children’s Learning Garden, and her dedicated team decided to donate the food grown to a local charity that supports area families. Jacqueline Sterbach, founder and CEO of What is Your Voice, recently met with Nancy and other members to receive lettuce and strawberries that were ready to be picked. The food harvested will be used to feed families living in the Pearl safe house and other survivors of domestic violence.

What is Your Voice provides peer advocates to empower women and children to live violence-free lives. The organization’s objective is to reduce the risk of women and children repeating the cycle of violence, or fleeing from violent homes to become a statistic of poverty, homelessness, addiction or human trafficking. For more information, go to www.whatisyourvoice.com and www.lewesinbloom.org.