On Saturday, Oct. 14, students and community volunteers gave back to the Laramie community through a set of service-focused activities as part of the University of Wyoming’s Service, Leadership, Community Engagement (SLCE) Office’s localized version of the Big Event.
2023 marks a full decade of UW staff and students participating in what is considered the largest one-day, student-run service day in the nation.
According to Shelby Kennedy, a project coordinator for the SLCE Office, over 300 student volunteers were sent to over 70 project sites throughout Albany county both to meet and build connections with the residents of the greater community and to complete a variety of service jobs like raking, painting, winterizing gardens, and other outdoor tasks.
One of the many project sites was located at the Labonte Community Garden, which sits adjacent to Labonte Park between 5th Street, 9th Street and Shields Street. It was attended by a group of six student volunteers along with Holly Dyer, and Ruth Shepard, a worker, and chair of the board for the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, respectively.
Dyer and Shepard worked in tandem with Big Event volunteers to dig up and remove old, rotten planter boxes and weeds throughout the plots, and replace them with new boxes lined with a weed barrier to better protect planted crops. Additionally, they spent time creating new soil mixtures rich with fertilizer to better prepare the plots for community members and their needs for the next Spring season.
Shepard said the community garden signed up to receive volunteers from the Big Event this year as the garden was in desperate need of a cleanup after the loss of the master gardener who used to oversee the majority of its upkeep and repair.
Shepard further stated that “We really needed to do a good fall cleanup… it was important to really get this place cleaned up, see what we needed to do in terms of repairs if anything, and just have it well organized so that next spring we’re ready to roll out for anyone who’d be interested in renting a plot.”
When asked about the importance of service-oriented programs like the Big Event, Shepard stated that she believed it was a beneficial relationship for both the volunteers whose service hours fulfill a scholastic requirement, and provides a much needed service the garden cannot otherwise attain.
She explained that because there is a lack of funding resources within Albany county, the community garden can not rely on city-provided landscaping services, and instead must rely on service projects and volunteers like those from the Big Event to provide the support and labor needed to upkeep the garden.
The Labonte community garden still has several plots of harvestable vegetables, including a large batch of raspberries, which Branding Iron reporters were made aware are currently free for any UW student, or other Laramie community member to take home with them from the garden.
