Activities: Garden-In-A-Box | Edible Park | Park Cart | More Fun
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Make friends, learn job and life skills, and volunteer by joining the Youth Service Corps!
Find out how to become a YSC member below. During School Year: During Summer: - Have fun |
How to Apply for Youth Service Corps
Youth Service Corps is a job and life skills training program for youth ages 11-17. It is free to join and participate. To be considered for membership, complete and return a YSC Registration & Summer Availability Form. Summer enrollment is limited to 30 youth. If accepted into the program, youth will receive a confirmation from the Youth Programs Coordinator.
If you have questions, contact our Youth Coordinator at 517-999-3918 or youthprograms@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.
Activities
Garden-In-A-Box
Interested in gardening, but want to start small? Youth Service Corps construct the 2′x2′ cedar garden boxes, deliver them to eligible neighbors, set and plant them, and advise and support neighbors in tending their Garden-In-A-Box as it grows. We intend for the boxes to be received by low-income households, OR seniors or neighbors with limited mobility, OR neighbors with little or no gardening experience. Applications are available here: Garden-in-a-Box Information Packet & Application, or at Allen Neighborhood Center or Hunter Park GardenHouse. (Remember, your home must be within walking distance of the Hunter Park GardenHouse on 1400 East Kalamazoo St.)
If you are not eligible to receive a free Garden-in-a-Box, but would like to still order a raised garden box, click here for more information.
Edible Park
YSC enjoys gardening year-round: outside in the spring and summer, and inside the heated greenhouse in the fall and winter. Members are involved in all parts of the growing process: seeding, planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, and of course- eating! In 2012, members planted fruit trees, put in an herb garden, a raised bed with season extension, planted raspberries, built a sign and raspberry trellis. further expanding the edibility of Hunter Park. All food grown in the edible park area, specified on the sign’s map, is free for the public to harvest.
.Park Cart
Opening June 10th! Monday: 2:30- 4:00pm, Tuesday-Friday 1:00- 4:00pm. With our newest project, Park Cart, youth learn business, marketing, and food safety skills while planning and running a food cart in Hunter Park! As an approved park vendor, we will be selling affordable, healthy snacks to pool and park go-ers during the summer months. Come see us in the park!
More Fun
YSC knows how to have fun too! At each session we play games and share a healthy snack together as we get ready for the day’s agenda. We’ also take monthly field trips as a reward for community service. Some of the places we’ve visited include the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, Impression 5 Science Center, MSU Sports Games, East Lansing Aquatic Center, Potter Park Zoo, and Uncle John’s Cider Mill.
