More than 100 people joined Jackson State University’s Center for University-Based Development (CUBD) garden event at Blackburn Laboratory Middle School on Monday, Jan. 18, for the annual MLK Day of Service.
A much-anticipated school garden was built on land owned by JSU with the support of a number of community partners, including Home Depot, Keep Jackson Beautiful, Lowe’s, Waste Management, Whole Foods Foundation and others. Partners donated basic construction materials needed for the raised beds, soil and seeds.
Jason Brookins, director of CUBD, said, “JSU has an executed MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), giving Blackburn permission to have a garden school on our site. We are grateful to our many partners, and we have raised funds to assist with building the raised beds, providing supplies to tend to the garden and to cover the cost of erecting a fence.”
Jackson State’s Department of Facilities and Construction Management, headed by Wayne Goodwin, prepared the plot for cultivation.
The school garden is an extension of the laboratory school collaboration between the College of Education and Human Development, which is led by Dean Daniel Watkins and Blackburn Middle School.
Volunteers, who were provided T-shirts and lunch at Blackburn, participated in the project by picking up litter, trimming bushes and hedges, planting flowers and performing art projects. In addition, JSU students earned service hours for their participation.
