High school students from Chester and West Chester joined together to plant the Chester Housing Authority's (CHA) newly expanded urban garden at the Bennett Homes.
CHA has operated a farm on less than an acre of land for the past several years, and this expansion will more than double its size. Over the longer term, CHA wants residents to convert their front lawns and back yards into growing fields."Once again on Saturday we saw how the kids from West Chester and those from Chester form relationships with each other through this activity. The interactions on this kind of project are educational for both groups," said CHA executive director Steven A. Fischer. "We are grateful to the Hicks Foundation for its ongoing support of this initiative. With Terrance now on board, we can take this opportunity to an even higher level."Upper Darby native Terrance Topping-Brown, a 2013 biology graduate from Shippensburg State University, has been hired to oversee the urban agriculture program as well as health and wellness programs at CHA."This is about people learning more and seeing food grow in their own back yards," Topping-Brown says. "Hopefully, being involved will make people conscious about their own food decisions. It will empower people because if you can grow the food that you eat and eat the food that you grow that's independence; that's taking care of yourself. I want to motivate people to take care of themselves. The more you know about food and where it comes from the better choices you make."
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