We Came, We Saw, We Weeded – Compli Cares for the Neighborhood House
Compli Cares just finished our quarterly volunteer event and I must say, it was an exhausting, but incredibly fruitful experience. We were lucky to assist Neighborhood House in their mission to bring neighbors together to reduce hunger and homelessness.
We chose Neighborhood House for our volunteer event because of their excellence and contribution to the communities of the Portland Metro area. Neighborhood House has been bringing the community together to help neighbors in need since 1905, helping families facing hunger and homelessness, vulnerable seniors and children who need help in school. Their programs help low-income, recent-immigrant and other vulnerable people overcome challenges so they can achieve success, stability and independence.
Neighborhood House has a fairly large Community Garden they use to supplement their food pantry with nutrient-rich fresh product. We helped them get their raised beds ready for the spring and summer planting – so it was our task to weed, turn down and amend soil, and in general prepare the beds to help them provide a bounty over the course of the summer. This garden provides fresh produce for families and communities facing economic difficulties.
Here are some stats to dig into:
We were lucky to have so many volunteer that we were able to split into two teams and spread the volunteer love over two days.
This time, given from the workday, is not taken lightly but given freely and gladly.
It is important on a yearly basis that raised beds are taken care of and prepped for a new crop. This consists of weeding, turning over the soil and then amending the soil with mulch, compost, or manure, thereby introducing nutrients back into the soil so the plants have plenty of food as they grow and hopefully thrive.
Community gardens are such a great resource for sustainable living as well as a teaching venue for healthier living, but they are also a haven for the villains of the plant world, i.e, weeds. With spade, shovel, cultivators and sometimes our hands, Compli was more than up to the task and no weed was spared.
While we were there, Neighborhood House received a huge donation from a local source for their food pantry. There were so many frozen chicken that part of our team spent a good portion of the afternoon rearranging freezer space to accommodate the new bounty.
Toby got after it on the compost pile, moving and turning compost, then turning and moving it again!
Compli sends our thanks to Neighborhood House for presenting us with such a special opportunity to get our hands dirty and be a better community partners. Their presence and continued effort to enrich the lives of at-risk communities is why we were honored to donate our time to help with them with their mission. Below is information about Neighborhood House as well as their contact information, so look them up, you’ll be impressed and surprised by just how much they contribute to making metro Portland better for all.
