Nuestras Raices receives grant from Harvard Pilgrim for new Holyoke community garden

HOLYOKE -- At the start of the summer, 15-year-old Gabriel Ortiz didn't know much about gardening. While living in the city, he didn't often consider where his food came from.

With days left before the start of the school year, he has grown over a dozen varieties of plants and looks forward to eating the fruits - or in this case, vegetables - of his labor.

Ortiz was one of over a dozen teens to participate in a seven-week summer farming program at Nuestras Raices.

They spent much of the summer transforming a weedy patch of land into a community garden at the Jones Ferry Road location.

Nuestras Raices received a $5,000 grant from Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare to provide the teens with the materials to create the garden and grow herbs, vegetables and flowers.

"We treat this program like a real job. The teens submit and application and provide references," said Anne Cody, director of operations and planning. "They worked so hard this summer to turn this space into what it is today."

For their work, each teen receives a $600 stipend from Nuestras and can take home what they grow.

Representatives from Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare visited the farm on Friday and spoke highly of what they saw.

"Having the opportunity to invest in this community is very exciting," said Laura B. Smith, a senior program officer for the Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare Foundation.

Nuestras was one of dozens of organizations across New England to receive a grant from the foundation.

"Food insecurity and chronic disease are so interconnected we consider it vital to help connect communities with healthy foods," Smith said.

Grow Food Northampton and Chicopee Community Garden also received $5,000 grants from the organization.

"80 percent of our weight comes from what we put in our mouths," Kate McEvoy-Zdonczyk, Harvard Pilgrim's vice president for Central and Western Massachusetts, said at Nuestras Raices on Friday. "This is the best kind of project for us," she added, of the farm, saying they look for organizations that are embedded in their communities.

State Rep. Aaron Vega spoke of the organization's founding 23 years ago. "When they wanted to do this, people thought they were crazy," he said. "Now it's become a part of the community in Holyoke."

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