Marie Alexis ’26
Farming is a symbol of love, peace, humility and selfcare. Growing up I used to farm with my mom and I never seem to appreciate it until now that I’m older, that I learned to appreciate farming and its benefits. Today I volunteered at the Strength to Love II farm, which is a community based program in West Baltimore to help fight food insecurity. The program uses a 1.5 acre land to farm and support people with employment and empower their community. In a time where food insecurity is one of the most significant problems of our population, the mission of this program could not have been more fulfilling. Strength to Love II farm provides the citizens of the neighborhood with fresh produce that they grow in the same neighborhood, they also provide job opportunities for the youth in the neighborhood. This initiative is creating a long term stability and hope for the community of Sandtown-Winchester, in West Baltimore.
During the time I was weeding on the farm, I felt connected once again to the one thing that connected me with my mother and it made me miss her a little more today. I felt at home, there was a sense of peace inside of me that I haven’t felt in years. Having this peaceful experience in the farm was not my only highlight of the day, knowing that the work that I was doing is going to be helping those that are facing food insecurity was more than I could ever ask for. Strength to Love II farm does more than just providing fresh and nutritious food to the community and providing employment but they are building a community that will one day take over and invest in their community. They are not only encouraging the youth to farm but to take small actions, they are showing them how small actions could lead to long term changes.
I had the absolute pleasure to meet Domanick and he shared with us one of the most meaningful programs that Strength to Love is doing to empower the youth and empower them to be entrepreneurs. They train youth from age 15 to 21 in urban agriculture through the Urban Youth in Agriculture Program (UYAP). In this amazing program the youth are offer:
- A stipend and work on the Strength to Love farm.
- An education on earth science, biology, water harvesting, botany, soil ecology and conservation.
- Training on community economic development and entrepreneurship through a step up program operation of a S2L2 Market Stand and selling produce at different markets in the city and they also get trained on customer service, accounting, entrepreneurship communication and team building which are all skills to a successful entrepreneurship.
- Their families received fresh bags of produce twice a week to ensure that they have access to fresh and nourishing food.
Hearing how passionate Domanick was when he was talking about the program gave me hope for the future. It’s not everyday that you find someone who is that passionate about empowering youth and educating them to be change makers. His passion motivates me to take action and do what I can to educate the youth because the next generation that will come depends on them and the future of the world depends on them. I plan to use all the knowledge from this week to make a difference in someone’s life in the future.