From AAU’s recent announcement:
In 2008, when youth in AAU’s Community Action Class surveyed the area around their school in Chinatown North, they found neglected vacant lots, illegal dumping, and little green space.
After succeeding in getting a lot next to the school cleaned up, permission to use the lot, and the fence fixed by the absentee land owner, AAU youth (with the indispensable help of adults) are now working to transform this vacant lot into a garden.
Every year, children and youth in our AAU Summer Program help build the garden – little by little, inch by inch. Last summer they built raised beds, planted butterfly habitat, made bird feeders, and grew and cooked with herbs.
I’ve recently been listening to some lectures on environmental psychology, and the research on greening is pretty interesting. One study found that hospital patients who had a view of something green (such as a tree) healed more quickly than those whose windows just looked out onto other buildings.
The AAU announcement continues:
In the words of our garden theme song: “Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.”
Through AAU’s Summer Program and our Inch by Inch Garden, we teach children that making positive change takes persistence and hard work. But, together, we can make a difference in the world.
That’s a pretty good message, I think. (Emphasis mine.)
You can make a donation to support AAU’s garden work.
Here are some options:
___ $12 buys a dozen spring bulbs
___ $60 buys one fig tree
___ $100 buys four blueberry bushes
___ $200 buys lumber and supplies for four more raised beds
Listen to AAU member Dao Tran talk about her experience of being taken seriously as a 12-year-old activist back in 1987.
BetterPHL 
What do you think?