VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Syracuse garden gives back to more than just the bees
Vinaya Johnson: It’s National Pollinator Week and “Save the Bees” campaigns are taking place across the country. In Syracuse, one local initiative is taking it one step further. Our NCC’s Cedric Derecho is live with more on this story.
Cedric Derecho: At Pete’s Giving Garden on the south campus of Syracuse University, a wide variety of different flowers and vegetables are being cultivated for a good cause. Every Tuesday, volunteers have the opportunity to gather here and help with gardening tasks. Garden manager Alyssa Quinn says vegetables harvested from the garden are taken directly to the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry, where they are given to students who need them.
Alyssa Quinn: The inspiration is just to be able to decrease food insecurity on campus and also just offer some volunteer hours and a great experience for the students here at Syracuse.
Derecho: Quinn and other volunteers get to work as they plant new pollinating flowers and vegetables in time for fall harvest. Erica Howard says helping out the bees helps the people too.
Erica Howard: And its purpose is to bring in the bees and pollinate the plants. Because if the plants are not pollinated, they can’t produce the fruit, which means we can’t give the food to the students.
Derecho: First time volunteer Cecilia Mujia is more than happy to help out.
Cecilia Mujia: To be involved is absolutely great…. I’ve been in the house a lot, so to just get out there, it just feels really good to be out here.
Derecho: The motivations for helping out at Pete’s Giving Garden are two fold, and of course….
Howard: I like to sve the bees.
Cedric Derecho: Saving the bees. Helping the people. That’s what I call a win-win. Live in Syracuse, Cedric Derecho, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — At Pete’s Giving Garden on the South Campus of Syracuse University, a wide variety of different flowers and vegetables are cultivated for a good cause. Every Tuesday, volunteers have the opportunity to gather at Pete’s and help with gardening tasks.
Garden manager Alyssa Quinn says vegetables harvested from the garden are taken directly to the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry, where they are given to students who need them.
“The inspiration is just to be able to decrease food insecurity on campus and also just offer some volunteer hours and a great experience for the students here at Syracuse,” Quinn said.
Located near the Inn Complete restaurant on Syracuse University’s South Campus, the garden features several beds of pollinating flowers for the local bee population. With this week being “National Pollinator Week,” there are many ongoing national and local campaigns to preserve and protect bee populations.
Erica Howard, another garden manager at Pete’s Giving Garden, says saving the bees helps people too.
“(The garden’s) purpose is to bring in the bees and pollinate the plants. Because if the plants are not pollinated, they can’t produce the fruit, which means we can’t give the food to the students,” Howard said.
During the summer, volunteers are scarce with most of the Syracuse University student body home for break. Cecilia Mujia, a first time volunteer at the garden, was enthusiastic to come out and get to planting.
“To be involved is absolutely great. I’ve been in the house a lot, so to just get out there, it just feels really good to be out here,” Mujia said.
Howard kept it simple when asked about the importance of maintaining the pollinator beds and planting vegetables in time for fall’s harvest.
“I like to save the bees,” Howard said.