Tuesday - Wet and Wild in Boston

When we arrived in the community garden run by the Boston Food Project, drenched with rain, we were joined by four Bostonians who work at a local Children's Hospital.

The group of four included Eric, an ER pediatric doctor and Judy, a registered nurse. It was great to see that the issue of accessible healthful food is important to affluent citizens and not just people who can't afford nutritious meals. The labor we provided helped the Boston Food Project grow vegetables for the low-income families in Dorchester.

Later that afternoon we volunteered at the St. Stephens after school program geared towards children in grades k-8. This program offers extra curricular activities and a free meal to program participants which is very important since for many of the children this is their last meal of the day. St. Stephens seemed to be very aware of the importance of healthy eating, so they make a point of trying to provide a nutritious meal for the students.

We were divided into groups of two or three based on the ages of the children. Some of us worked with kids in grades K-2 while others worked with children in grades 4 and 5 with many of the participants coming from Blackstone Elementary School. A few of us also worked with kids in middle school. Throughout the afternoon we helped our students with various activities including homework and art projects.