Supplying 1,250+ lbs of Produce With NYRP

Since the onset of Covid-19, food insecurity in New York City has risen nearly 40%.

This Tuesday our team joined forces with the New York Restoration Project to actively transform unused outdoor spaces at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church into beautiful, food productive facilities. This garden growing project will supply over 1,250 lbs of produce—providing $2,500 worth of fresh, organic resources for families and members of the Washington Heights Community. So far, the members of the New York Restoration Project have successfully restored and revitalized upward of 400 acres in the city’s most-neglected public green spaces and their adjacent communities. Our time spent with the New York Restoration Project aims to impact the restoration, re-design, and maintenance of the organization’s 52, now 53, community gardens in our city.

Upon arriving, our dear friends and Senior Directors of  New York Restoration Project, Michael Yerdon, and Jason Smith, guided us through the facility’s operation process. We learned that the mulch pathway would provide the Church a clean walkway for the community residents, while also supplying nutrients in the soil, that’ll improve the soil structure, drainage, and nutrient holding capacity during decomposition. Moreover, terraced farming on the Church edge would nourish the garden’s soil and induce a food-productive turf within the community.

Our team split up to divide and conquer the day and worked in unison shoveling mulch into wheelbarrows, transporting into the garden landscape, and raking evenly across the ground taking turns with each job. Toward the end of our volunteer time, we had the opportunity to put soil into the planers on the terraced farming, filling the foundation of what would provide produce in the Washington Heights community. Thank you New York Restoration Project for such a fulfilling experience and allowing us to provide help on a project that will provide nourishment to the community when food insecurity remains at its high point in New York City!

Every purchase from the The KROST x Barneys New York Second Collection donates $5 to help fight food insecurity through our partnerships with New York Restoration Project.