Carolina Campus Community Garden Advisory Board Minutes
August 27, 2014
PRESENT: Alice Ammerman, Bonita Brown, Molly DeMarco, Lois Douglas-Alston, Nancy Easterling, Christina Lebonville, Joanna Lelekacs, Claire Lorch, Arlene Medder, John O’Sullivan, John Powers, Tara Smith, Linden Thayer, Diane Webster and Victoria Whitfield
UPDATES
Recruitment Efforts – John Powers reported that there was a lot of enthusiasm at Fall Fest for the Garden. Rather than going with the standard set-up, he set up shop out of one of our wheelbarrows to distribute samples of chocolate chip sweet potato bread and managed to get ninety-two sign-ups for our listserv. Additional recruitment took place at the Sustainability Social and at the Week of Welcome garden tours.
Greenhouse – We are in the process of trying to identify a designer/builder who can work with us to finalize plans for the greenhouse, draw up the plans and be willing to supervise NCSU and UNC students in building the greenhouse. It was suggested that we make sure that the designer/builder follows all of the Historic District Commission (HDC) regulations. We might also want to alert UNC News Services about this project. Alice suggested Sonya from her office as a good contact and Joanna suggested Natalie Hampton from NCSU. We may want to consider using social media/blogging to get the word out.
Tool Shed – We got approval to put a tool shed out at the garden from the Town’s HDC and now awaiting approval from the University’s Building and Grounds Committee (which meets Sept 4th). Assuming we get the approval, we hope to order the kit and get it built this fall.
Corrals – CCCG Working Group wants us to make building corrals for our big piles (wood chips, leaf mulch, Brooks compost and weeds) a high priority.
Temp Position- We will be hiring a year-round part-time assistant for the CCCG.
HOPE GARDENS – Emily Auerbach told the Board that the Town of Chapel Hill was considering selling the property where HOPE Gardens is located and asked that we show our support and solidarity by writing a letter to the Town Council members or attending the Town Council meeting on Sept 8th at 7 pm and wear green; more information as to what to include in the letter was provided in a forwarded email from Emily. (UPDATE: Molly spoke with a Town Council member who felt that the land that Hope Garden sits on is not threatened with being sold for at least ten years.)
MATT FAJACK’S UPCOMING TOUR – Arlene is hoping that Matt Fajack, chief financial officer at UNC will be able to tour the CCCG during the week of Sept 8th. It will ideally coincide with a workday with the delegates from the Employee Forum. It was suggested that the Chancellor (who loves to cook) and Provost and David Routh (chief fundraiser) also be invited. Alice was going to ask about the right pitch to make to Matt (since he controls the funds for the garden manager position). Lois mentioned that we might also want to invite those that serve on the Provost Committee for Inclusive Excellence and Diversity for a garden tour. Fajack’s tour has been postponed due to scheduling issues.
VOLUNTEER SURVEY RESULTS – Claire presented a very brief summary of the findings from a survey of volunteers conducted by David Schwartz last spring and will be emailing the survey results for Board members to review. David will attend the Sept board meeting to present a more sophisticated analysis.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE BE EVAUATING? A social worker would like to volunteer her time to help us do additional evaluation. Several ideas put forward included getting input from our high school volunteers on their experiences to help us broaden our volunteer base, reviewing our strategic plan – to find out what we need to know to tell our story, looking at the student classroom connection to reinforce experiential learning, examining the impact of the garden on the perception of the University. It was suggested that we table further discussion of other potential evaluations until after David’s presentation.
PROMOTING CULTURAL EXCHANGE – We had a lively discussion on how to utilize the distributions, the garden tours and workdays and special events to break down barriers, promote cultural exchange, empowerment and connection with the garden recipients. It was suggested that we might have a Harvest Festival where a chef (perhaps from Transplanting Traditions Farm-Linden was going to look into this) could cook some traditional Karen or Burmese dishes for everyone to sample. It was also suggested that we could also have a Culture Day where everyone is encouraged to share a dish using garden produce representing his or her culture or country of origin. The Board was in favor of coming up with creative ways to get more housekeepers (all shifts) out to the garden to tour initially but hopefully, some will want to come back to volunteer.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION FAIR – We need volunteers from the Board to help at this event on Oct 17th from 9:00 – 3:00 p.m. at the Student Union. This is our major effort to recruit staff to volunteer at the Garden workdays. Christine offered her services and Alice agreed to make her wonderful breads. If anyone else is available to volunteer (even an hour is helpful), please email Claire.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Family Weekend Sept 6th (3:00 – 4:00 p.m.)
- Matt Fajack’s Tour (Week of Sept 8th)
- Marathon Petroleum Executives Sept 13th (1:30 – 2:30 p.m.)
- Employee Appreciation Fair- Oct 17th (9;00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.)
- Newman Center Annual Service Day- Nov 22 (9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)
NEXT BOARD MEETING: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 (8:00 – 8:50 a.m.)