Community Service Day

On a stunning November morning, Synergy families gathered at The Garden Project’s property next to the San Francisco County jail in San Bruno.

This is the second year that Synergy has spent its annual Community Service Day working with The Garden Project. The project, which was started by Cathrine Sneed, Middle School Math teacher Sogolon Best’s mother, has a dual mission: to give at-risk young people skills and work experience through its Earth Stewards program, and to provide food for poor San Francisco families. The Earth Stewards not only work on Garden Project land, they also participate in community clean-up and cultivation projects in San Francisco, at the Crystal Springs Watershed, and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Food grown by The Garden Project is distributed to Bay Area food pantries. (Learn more about 8th Graders’ Community Service Week with The Project.)

Directed by Sneed and several Earth Stewards, Synergy families sorted and planted  garlic, and weeded rows of scallions. A small but determined cluster of kids hunted for worms. After several hours of work, Synergy parents and kids shared a kale salad made from very local ingredients, and topped off the day with Anthony’s Cookies.

— by Connie Matthiessen; photos by Gary Wagner