By Alexis Young
Staff Writer
Want to ‘turnip the beet’ with a summer filled with community service and personal growth? Farm to Table happens to be serving quite the dish.
“When students are taking finals, there is still a need in our community, when students are on break there’s still a need in the community,” said Jeffrey Sved, Director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern. “People aren’t not hungry because students are home for summer months, so this is an opportunity 20 years ago to keep the Warming House doors open year-round and staffed by students.”
Farm to Table, a summer opportunity that allows Bonaventure students to work with the Warming House and Canticle Farms in Allegany and for nine to 10 weeks over the summer, will be returning again this year under the Sved.
According to Percy Brown, a junior theater major who participated in the program in 2015, the students would work at the Warming House Monday through Friday and would put spade to soil at Canticle Farms Monday through Wednesday from 8 until noon doing various types of farm work.
“The farm is definitely interesting because I come from a city. We don’t grow vegetables. It was definitely interesting but very appreciative work because you kind of see what it’s like to be a farmer.” said Brown.
“What they go through in terms of how they process the vegetables, how they’re planted, how much harder it actually is than what it seems like. It was nice to take a step out of the city shoes and put on the small community shoes and see what it felt like.”
Sved said that although the program was created with the intention of keeping the Warming House open during the summer months, there has been intention to help students develop as well. With Farm to Table, students have the opportunity to become involved in direct service and personal growth while serving the community.
“I think it’s definitely a worthwhile experience, even if you don’t want to go home or you just want to do something different. Take it from someone who had never done anything remotely close to the farm, and I enjoyed it,” said Brown. “I think anyone else can, no matter your background, what you’ve never done before. If you put yourself into it, you kind of enjoy every moment of it.”
Thanks to the generosity of the Olean area, the program will be accepting six students to participate in community service from June 10 till August 11, 2017.
Students will be housed in the university’s townhouses and given transport to and from Canticle Farms and the Warming House in university vehicles. Additionally, students will receive a $1,000 education award that can be used towards fall tuition and a stipend for food and personal expenses.
The application deadline is April 12. Questions and concerns can be directed to Jeff Sved at jsved@sbu.edu.
“Appreciate community service,” said Brown. “…The joy its brings to the people receiving it and the people doing it, it really makes you really evaluate your priorities and see that people in need are just people as you are, just as human.”
youngam13@bonaventure.edu
