In an effort for Columbia College to refocus its commitment to service–learning and making an impact in the community, its students will work with children from the St. Lawrence Place to design, build, plant, and tend to a garden. Columbia College Professor Calley Hornebuckle is overseeing this project.

The young people will have a chance for hands on learning such as figuring out the area of the garden, determining how much dirt is needed, how plants grow, and how much water will be needed.

This project is part of a collaborative partnership with Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers.

Professor Ned Laff, director of general education and fellow professor who is involved with service learning project, believes the garden can be extremely helpful to the community.

“The correlation between diabetes and access to fresh vegetables is clear. It is cheaper to buy a happy meal than a green pepper. If we could empower people to both grow gardens and to incorporate what they grow into their nutritional routine, we believe we can accomplish a number of things.

The garden will not begin until the fall; therefore, collards will be the first vegetable grown. When spring comes the types of vegetables will vary. According to Hornebuckle, “Right now the focus is to get the children involved. The more success the garden has, the larger it can grow.”

The goals of this project are to teach both the children and their parents the importance of vegetables, to help the children understand balance and be able to take charge of their own health, and to help the community re–discover the lost art of vegetable gardening.