We’re kids and we volunteer. In our column we’ll write about kids in our community who volunteer – what they do and why they do it. Our first column is about us.
Every Monday, we volunteer at two places: Shaw Family Farm and Sierra Teen Education and Parenting Program (STEPP).
At the farm, we hear chickens cackling. We see compost bins and the rows of kale. We feel the greenhouse heat. We’re seized by hanging tomato vines. We taste tomatillos. We weigh the harvest.
The farmers are Barbara and John Shaw and their sons, David, Hayden, and Gage. Barbara says, ‘We’re a small, family-owned, sustainable farm with a goal of educating the community about where food comes from and offering better quality food to our family and the community.’
The Shaws feel like pioneers, eager to prove this kind of farming can be done in the mountains. One big challenge is prevention, Barbara says. The Shaws recognize that the bears and the snow were here first, so they built a greenhouse insulated with hay bales; they put their chickens in each night; and they built fences effective enough to keep the bears out of the compost bins.
Barbara is grateful we volunteer because we keep her company and help get her farm jobs done. We pick, plant, hoe, chase, climb, pet, dig, gather, water, compost, hold, guess, spill, chat, count, mark, bury, peel, search, laugh, look, twist, loosen, pluck, harvest, and weigh.
We spend half our weekly allowance to buy fruit, veggies, and eggs for the babies at STEPP. Barbara saves the one-dollar bills in a jar, and dreams the ‘seed money’ will grow a program for healthier school lunches.
Here we go. Next stop: STEPP!
In this fun and busy space, we hear laughter. We see smiling faces and community-donated toys, books, bottles, sleeping pads, and special baby blankets. We hear the sleepy-time music. We feel love.
Arleen Wallace and her co-workers Malissa and Mandy care for up to 14 babies, ages 1 day to 3 years, so their moms and dads can finish high school. Along with Cindy Maciel (who started the program 11 years ago), they also teach these teenagers to be better parents by, among other things, teaching them about nutrition, dental health, and how important it is to read to their children.
When we’re here, we hold, cradle, slide, stack, stroll, brush teeth, read, pat, rub, rock, walk, feed, dance, laugh, listen, help, sweep, clear, change, wipe messy faces, and sing.
Arleen says we help STEPP by playing with the babies, which makes them learn. She also says, ‘Without you, these kids would never experience farm-fresh food.’
Just like a family, the children sit around the baby table and reach for that farm food: carrots, melon, strawberries, scrambled eggs, peppers, yellow and purple beans, and cherry tomatoes, which they pop and suck.
‘We are a family here,’ says Arleen. ‘We watch kids and parents grow.’
Our partner, Maia says, ‘Kids love, kids play, kids give.’ We believe it! We know we’re not the only kids who volunteer. If you do, or you know someone who does, please email us: ItsTime4Kids2Give@gmail.com.
