The overripe tomato quickly surrendered to the boy’s strong grip, its insides spurting out in multiple directions, ultimately landing in a colander below.
Initially, only one participant in Chester County’s Evening Reporting Center (ERC) program, an initiative of Pocopson Township’s Chester County Youth Center, had accepted the challenge of tomato-squishing, but as others witnessed the fun, they soon joined him. The goal: saving the heirloom seeds, which would be planted next year in an effort to repeat this summer’s bountiful harvest.
The program marks an innovative collaboration. Only the ankle bracelets – required by the teens' adjudication – set this group apart from any other young people assisting with outside summer chores. On a recent sun-drenched August afternoon, they were soaking up lessons in art, teamwork, horticulture and nutrition at the organic garden started by Victory Brewing at its new production compound in Parkesburg.
The uncommon coalition came about because Alexis Grieco, Victory’s executive assistant to retail operations, was seeking some extra hands to help maintain the garden, which spans about 1/3 of an acre and supplies the brewery’s restaurants in Downingtown and Kennett Square.
Grieco, who coordinates the brewery’s sustainability program, said the vastness of the crops had proven a bit overwhelming for the facility’s employees. Victory also makes drop-offs twice a week at the Chester County Food Bank, donations she estimated had reached a couple hundred pounds.
When Grieco learned that the ERC program was looking for productive opportunities for its participants, she said it seemed to offer a promising solution. “The kids have all been very hard-working,” she said. She’s already looking forward to next year’s harvest and expansion of the program to include an agricultural curriculum that is being developed by Lincoln University.
Carrie Avery, program coordinator for the Chester County Youth Center, explained that the ERC program offers an option to youth who otherwise would have ended up behind bars. Instead, they participate in structured activities that include community service. The program began with a two-year grant in 2010, Avery said, however, it was so successful that the county has continued it.
The participants already had some experience with growing produce because the youth center maintains eight raised beds, Avery said. During the school year, youth attend ERC in the evening, hence the name, but summer hours include daytime pursuits.
“This has been a super collaboration,” Avery said of the Victory initiative.
During their weekly hands-on visits to Victory’s garden, the teens got friendly lessons from Hayden Remick, a prep chef at Victory who enjoys imparting his knowledge of organic gardening to his young assistants.
Remick led the tomato-squeezing exercise, explaining that the best way to get good seeds is to extract them from the plants worthy of being replicated. He monitors daily a vegetable assortment that includes broccoli, beans, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and kale to see what is healthy and what needs help. In between the rows of edibles, lines of buckwheat are thriving, planted to enrich the soil.
The ERC program already had a partnership with Arts Holding Hands and Hearts, Inc., (AHHAH) a Coatesville-based expressive arts and wellness program that targets underserved youth and adults. Prior to Remick’s instruction, the teens worked with Lynne Filion, a graduate of Moore College of Art, who orchestrated a mural project.
The teens participated in a brainstorming session to reach a consensus for the design. One pallet illustrated the fruits of their labors in the garden while another proclaimed: "Cultivate what's important," listing safety, family, education, support and respect.
Filion then sketched the students' vision onto three re-purposed pallets from Victory. The youth, assisted by their supervisors, filled in the words and images with bright acrylic paints on their somewhat unconventional canvas. Then they stood back to admire the results.
The artistry is now displayed along the fence at the garden’s entrance, and Grieco said she envisions adding many more pieces to the assemblage. She said she also expects that some of the painters may end up as Victory employees in the future.
“Some have expressed interest,” she said, “and the fact that we know them will give them an edge.”
Jan Michener, AHHAH’s founder and an enthusiastic proponent of art as communication and therapy, said it’s rewarding to see young people respond so positively to the attention the ERC program provides.
Many of AHHAH’s programs aim to “stop the systematic school-to-prison pipeline,” Michener said. “Many of these kids really are victims … They’ve ended up in difficult situations through no fault of their own.”
She said some of the students, who insisted that they didn’t like tomatoes, are now fans. “I don’t think they had ever tasted a home-grown one before,” Michener said.
Brigit D. Biagiotti, an ERC supervisor, praised the collaboration with Victory and AHHAH. She said in the past community service has sometimes meant picking up garbage. “What skills does that really promote?” she asked. “Besides, it can be demeaning.”
This year’s summer program combines education, exercise and civic involvement in a much more enriching way, she said.
Avery said once school is back in session, the teens would continue to help out in the garden, just later in the day. “As long as daylight holds out, we can still go out there,” she said. “The program has really worked well.”
The ERC program partners with schools, parents/families and other community service providers. It serves Chester County’s pre-adjudicated and adjudicated delinquent adolescent males for 30 program days or six weeks. Daily activities are very structured and include snacks and dinner, homework/study time, competency classes, community service, recreation, field trips, and workshops. Participants must be referred by the Juvenile Probation Department and ordered to attend by the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. More details are available at http://www.chesco.org/youthcenter.
To learn more about Victory Brewing Company, go to http://www.victorybeer.com. The AHHAH website is http://www.artsholdinghandsandhearts.com.
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