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King’s College has received a $3,000 grant from the PPL Foundation for its Community Garden Outreach Project. Funds will be utilized to purchase the supplies necessary to expand the Community Garden on Madison Street in Wilkes-Barre. In conjunction with sustainability initiatives at King’s, students recently formed a Community Garden Outreach Club. The club currently consists of more than 25 students from various majors. The club and community garden are both coordinated through Campus Ministry and the Shoval Center for Community Engagement and Learning at King’s. From left, seated, are Jessica Britten, president of the Outreach Club; Emma Gallagher, King’s Campus Ministry; Father John Ryan, C.S.C., King’s president; Roberts, PPL; and Jennifer Britten, vice president, Outreach Club. Standing, Tabitha Sprau Coulter, assistant professor of civil engineering, and engineering student volunteers Natalie Coffee, Rene Sousa, and Brennan Ryan; Outreach Club members Matthew Haycock, Carina Hastings,

As part of this Community Garden Outreach Project, King’s civil engineering students surveyed the property last spring to expand its layout by 10 plots and designed and built a watering system. During the current academic year, a different group of students are conducting surveying to determine how to further expand the garden and the watering system.

During the current academic year, various groups, including local pre-kindergarten students from the College’s Early Learning Center and high school students in the Ccollege’s McGowan Hispanic Outreach Program and the Juvenile Justice Mentoring Program will be “Adopting A Plot.” Each group will prepare, plant, maintain, and harvest the garden. Harvests will be donated to local families and non-profit organizations.

Through the project, students will learn about sustainable communities, how to practice environmental conservation initiatives, and undertake neighborhood improvement projects.

“Students in the Community Garden Club are invigorated by the support of the local community and eager to pass on the generosity they have received from PPL,” said Emma Gallagher, associate campus minister.

“Fostering the development of safe, strong and sustainable communities is a primary objective of the PPL Foundation,” said Alana Roberts, Regional Affairs Director for PPL Electric Utilities. “We are pleased to support this community garden project and wish the college much success.”

The PPL Foundation contributes more than $2 million annually to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations to promote the development of sustainable communities and innovative education programs, helping to revitalize neighborhoods and fostering the development of the future workforce to strengthen the communities it serves. For more information, visit www.pplcares.com.

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and Rachel Tansey; and King’s staff members Maura Modrovsky, Shoval Center for Community Engagement and Learning, and Dave Holhol, Sustainability Coordinator for King’s.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_Garden-project-group.jpg.optimal.jpgSubmitted photo