Pleasantville’s Community Garden Looking for Fall Help
By Arthur Cusano – Do you have a green thumb? Even if the answer in no, the Pleasantville Community Garden could still use your help this fall in its continuing mission to provide fresh vegetables to the neediest people in Westchester.
For the past few years, Pleasantville High School student Devon Juros has been running the garden at the St. John’s Episcopal Church, located on Sunnyside Avenue. The village 15-year-old, who starts his sophomore year this fall, began the project two years ago after months of planning. As of this month, he has grown and collected 7,000 pounds worth of vegetables from the garden and from vendors at the Pleasantville Farmer’s Market this year, and 20,000 pounds since he began the project in June 2014.
“We’ve done a good job for the summer in getting people to come out, but we still need a lot of people to help us weed water and do more harvesting,” Juros explained.
Juros is looking for weekly volunteers who would be responsible for those tasks. He said the time commitment was minimal and could be done during any time of the day that works for volunteers.
No experience is necessary, said Devon’s father, David Juros, who also assists with the garden.
“It’s perfect for those who don’t know what they’re doing, because we will train them on Saturday and then they can run the week and we’re always on our cell phones if they have questions,” he said. It’s a great way to get introduced to gardening – we’re not looking for experts.
The gardeners plant green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and even some squash. No chemicals or fertilizers are used in the garden, they said.
Harvesting is done at the end of the week in order to provide for their main benefactor, Hillside Food Outreach, which makes deliveries on Saturdays and Mondays. Another group of volunteers deliver the food to the pantry in Armonk, but more volunteer drivers are always needed.
“They deliver to 2,400 people in Westchester, and they bring the food to their clients who are bedridden or can’t get out of the house or get to the pantry,” Juros said.
Many Westchester residents are unaware of how many county residents are going hungry, he added.
“Twenty percent of people in Westchester, which is 200,000 people,” he said.
The Juros’ said Pleasantville residents have been great about donating their time. They also credited St. John’s Episcopal Church, which he said provided land for the garden and even occasional volunteers.
“The main problem with Pleasantville is that there is no land,” the younger Juros said. “There are houses everywhere. They have been really great in letting us use this piece of land and use their water.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can contact David Juros at 914-262-5531 or visit their website, www.pvillegarden.org.
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