online volunteer

orientation

history
1985, Jeff Fox, Executive Director of Crossroads Urban Center, Fish and Garden started as a program of his
organization.
People in Utah were Hungry
State of Utah denied individuals with no food and no income to have food stamps
Utah County refused to allow WIC dist. in their county
Child programs lacked food distributions to low-income children
Solution?
Secure underutilized or vacant land, create small garden plots, and invite people in the neighborhood to
start gardening.
Some succeeded and some failed, overall 3 out of 6 continued all with good soil, gardener participation,
and tech support from Crossroads.

What About The Fish?

No one is positive how the fish started. They assume all the employees were sitting around a table
brainstorming on how to provide protein to low-income individuals.
Today, 7.5 million carp make up 90% of the fish population in Utah Lake.Crossroads was able to sustain a
fish project by teaming up with local fisherman Bill Loy Jr. who was part of the June sucker Recovery
Program.
Once the fish were caught they were transferred and dumped into small kiddie pools in the back of the
building. A few phone calls and in no time people in the community would form a mob around the truck.
It was a success!

Birth of Wasatch Fish and

Gardens

1987, Crossroads Urban Center hired Nick Hershenaw to direct the Fish and Gardens project. After 2 years
forming a board of directors and its own official nonprofit with 501(C)(3) status.
1991, Jane Torrence, next Executive Director, she had a sustainable ability to bring people together
regardless of their culture or socio-economic level. She was able to make some crucial sustainability
changes.

Youth Garden Program

In 1993 Tom Johnson started to design the first season of the youth program. His vision was to get youth to
grow produce that would be sold in the first Downtown Farmers Market in Pioneer Park.
-Life was challenging, but Jordan would enter into the Grateful Tomato Garden and sit down to weed. The cars
became the sound of an ocean. It was soothing and relaxing. She could leave her mental garbage at the gate
and come into a space that she calls sacred.

Goodbye Beloved Fish COOP

As the Gardens and Youth Program continued to grow it became a concern to keep the Fish Program going.
Spending $2.25 per pound to sell carp for $0.18. It would be cheaper to purchase chicken at Smiths to hand
out rather than risking the lives of the staff or waste time where members are really not contributing to the
program.
Late 1993 the board made the decision to put more focus on the gardening and cease the fish distribution.

Outreach and
Empowerment of
Communities

Calls started to come in weekly from individuals wanting to start their own gardens within the community. It
was getting hard to keep up with all the requests without enough resources.
Wasatch decided instead of taking on additional gardens they would start to teach communities how to start
their own gardens.
They would provide networking, tools resources, and knowledge to ensure potential garden success.

Plans for the Next 25 Years

4 Recommendations
1.

Continually have conversations with key community groups.

2.

Be conscious of including diverse communities in their planning (refugees and immigrants have been
key players in WCG evolving.)

3.

Reassess and re-evaluate the role WCG plays in the community and who they are as an organization.

4.

DREAM LARGE

Community Garden
Program

Wasatch Community Gardens offers plots for people who do not have space to grow their
own fresh vegetables and fruits.
800 groups or families participate in Community Gardens.
As well as 66 Refugee families
In 2014 Wasatch Community Gardens was able to add four additional community gardens
and help support 22 additional gardens. Five of which were school gardens

Youth Gardening Program

Teaching the youth to learn about nutrition, food preparation, and gardening.
Participants are ages from 3-18.
In 2014 the youth program was able to serve over a thousand participates.

Community Education
Program
The education program offers class and workshops about gardening.

They offer numerous of events in SLC such as, Spring Plant Sale, Urban Garden and Farm
week, and the tomato sandwich party.
In 2014 they were able to have 696 community members participate in 50 work shops.

School Gardening Program

The School gardening Program started in 2014. In the first year it was able to help support
nine existing gardens at elementary schools.
This program is educating students, parents, and the school administration the benefits of
gardening through volunteer work.
In the first year they were able to expose 1,300 students to their elementary gardens.

Volunteer
how can you
help?
Weed Controllers -

Opportunitie
s

WCG is an organic gardening organization, and we do not allow artificial

weed killers to be used in our gardens. Our method of weed control is the old fashioned getting on your
hands and knees and pulling them.

Garden Crew -

Garden Crew is a small volunteer group (ranging 3-10 people) who are interested in
learning about organic gardening through hands-on gardening practices.

School Garden Volunteer -

Volunteers will be assigned to a school garden to assist in the

ongoing maintenance of the garden grounds.

Special Events -

WCG holds three main events throughout the year The Annual Spring Plant
Sale, Urban Garden & Farm Tour, and The Tomato Sandwich Party. Volunteers will be assigned to tasks
specific to the event.

Volunteer opportunities cont.

Chicken Crew -

Chicken Crew volunteers are assigned one day of week to check on the chickens
located at the Grateful Tomato Garden.

Garden Mob -

Garden Mobs are larger volunteer groups (ranging 10- 50+ people) who focus on a

specific task to complete in a short amount of time the same day.

Office Volunteer -Volunteers

will assist WCG staff in office tasks, including but not limited to data
entry, social media, updating event information on community calendars, website maintenance, outreach,
organizational tabling events as community fairs/festivals/information gatherings, flyering for events, art
projects, donation, and research projects.

The Gardens Club -

The Gardeners Club is a small volunteer group (ranging from 5-10 people) who
are interested in promoting WCG programs and events.
They assist WCG in strengthening the
communitys understanding of its efforts and assist in building organizational support.

VOLUNTE
ER
POLICIES
Things you need to
know before you start.

Photo by: Ethan Higbee 2015

Working
outdoors.
Photo by: Ethan Higbee 2015

1. Make sure to dress for the

weather.
2. Bring water and food.
3. If you do not feel well
Stop!

Other
policies
include:

1. No chemicals of any kind are

permitted.

2. Do not take food from gardens

without permission.

3. Ask questions so that instructions

are clear and followed
appropriately.
4. Be careful so as to not injure you,
others or plants.
5. Be reliable, prompt, and
supportive of the organization and
others.

Photo by: Ethan Higbee 2015

Policies Ctd.
1. No bullying or discrimination.
2. No offensive language or behaviour.
3. Again STOP if you do not feel well.
4. Raise any concerns or issues that
you may have with the organization.
5. You must sign a liability release form.

Photo by: Ethan Higbee 2015

I want in! whats next?

Liked what you saw? Here are few
steps you can take to join the team.

GROW.

REPEAT.
EAT.

I want in! whats next?

1.Review the volunteer programs &
opportunities
-. Choose a program that suits you, theres something for everybody.

I want in! whats next?

2. Complete a volunteer application
- Application available online
- Patiently wait for the volunteer coordinator to contact you.

I want in! whats next?

3. Participate in a volunteer
orientation
- Orientations will begin again in 2016

I want in! whats next?

Application and other volunteer info can be found on the WCG Website
@ www.wasatchgardens.org/volunteer
Feel free to contact Felecia Maxfield-Barrett (Volunteer & Outreach
Coordinator) with any questions
- felecia@wasatchgardens.org / 801.359.2658
Without volunteers this organization wouldn't be where it is today.

muchas gracias
https://wasatchgardens.org/files/images/wcg_AnnualReport_2014_low.pd
f
https://wasatchgardens.org/files/images/Wasatch%20Community%20Ga
rden%20history%20report.pdf
https://wasatchgardens.org/mediatoolkit
https://wasatchgardens.org/files/images/WCG%20Volunteer%20Manual_
revised%203.2.15.pdf
www.wasatchgardens.org/volunteer