Come Garden with Us...as a Garden Steward...as a Community Cultivator

“So often, we think of giving in monetary terms, but there is so much more to give. Volunteering is a great way to channel individual talents, skills and energy into something that is really meaningful to people and the community. Our knowledge, skills, attitude and life experiences are unique and we have the opportunity to share them with others.”
Mike Woshner, WPC Community Conservation Volunteer Garden Steward

A commitment to his community and volunteering fuel Mike Woshner’s motivation to make a difference in his community. For the past eight years, Mike has been the volunteer Garden Steward for community floral gardens in the Carrick neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh. Mike is one of more than 150 volunteer Garden Stewards who help maintain Western Pennsylvania Conservancy community gardens in more than 170 neighborhoods in 19 counties in western Pennsylvania.

Mike got involved as a WPC Garden Steward through the Carrick Community Council. He started small with helping at a community garden at the local elementary school. Today, he helps facilitate six gardens in his community, and serves on their local “Carrick Goes Gardening Contest” committee. “I like working with people who care about their community and are willing to make an effort to improve the environment. I appreciate what everyone does to help beautify Western Pennsylvania.”

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s community volunteers are the backbone of our commitment to help revitalize communities through local greening initiatives. In addition to our Garden Stewards, more than 5,000 youth and adult volunteers join us in May as part of our Community Cultivators. This broad and diverse group of volunteers works together to plant and maintain gardens and greenspaces in our towns and cities, in major urban and suburban communities, in small neighborhoods, in business districts and schoolyards, as well as along highways.

Garden Stewards
Our Garden Stewards accept responsibility for helping coordinate the annual planting of the garden in their neighborhood, as well as maintain the garden during the growing season. This involves regular weeding, checking on watering and general upkeep to keep the garden looking its best throughout the May-October garden season. This team of Garden Stewards works closely with WPC Community Conservation staff to ensure that each year the garden is a spectacular addition to each community’s viewscape that is enjoyed by residents and visitors.

Over the years, WPC’s work to advance community through gardens has continually grown. We have witnessed one garden become hundreds, and a few volunteers become a few thousand. Often we can’t foresee the impact of our work on an individual or a group. For Mike, the larger impact and ripple effect of his work is obvious. “Our work on the gardens is there for everyone to see and appreciate...and garden fever is contagious. I believe that the widespread proliferation of home gardens and gardeners in our neighborhoods is due in great part to the beauty of the Conservancy gardens.” In many neighborhoods these community projects are a dramatic demonstration of the determination of residents to improve their overall quality of life in the face of often overwhelming obstacles like crumbling abandoned buildings, trashed vacant lots, criminal elements, disinterested or defeated neighbors and urban flight to the suburbs.

While Mike became involved in WPC’s community gardens to help people appreciate how much a garden can improve the overall image of a neighborhood, his personal rewards are as great as the benefits he brings to his community. “I like playing in the dirt and actually having direct control over the success of a project from beginning to culmination. That can be a very difficult feeling to realize in business and the workforce today. The gardens are a real physical and emotional retreat.” Throughout the growing season, Mike realizes his reward every day. “I love seeing the gardens...the work of God and man...in full bloom, and I revel in the compliments from passers-by.”

Community Cultivators
Another group of community volunteers is our Community Cultivators. Each May between 4,000 and 5,000 community volunteers join us for one day to help plant community gardens throughout western Pennsylvania. Members of our Community Cultivators, which include individuals of all ages and backgrounds, come together to plant and mulch approximately 350,000 flowering plants.

We especially reach out to young people to help connect our youth to their communities through volunteerism as well as provide a gardening experience. In 2003 nearly half of the volunteers who planted in WPC community gardens were youth. In one Allegheny County community, more than 100 seventh graders from the school’s “Green Team” gather annually to transform a busy intersection into a lush and sprawling flowerbed.
Our Community Cultivators include corporate volunteers, families, retirees, school and scout groups, community organizations and individuals who want to help make our communities more vibrant. What do many of the people say when asked to explain why they volunteer to be part of the Community Cultivators....

• We get to enjoy the outdoors!
• We get exercise without even realizing it!
• We get to meet others with similar interests!
• We feel good knowing we’ve done our part to help beautify our neighborhood!

JOIN US !!! Each year our need for volunteers grows. We invite you, your family, your neighbors, friends and colleagues to join us. And remember, you’re never too old or too young to garden. Marianne Cola is available to help match your time and interest with a community garden project in need of help. Marianne can be reached at (412) 586-2324 or mcola@paconserve.org. Also, keep checking our website for a list of planting dates and locations.

Photos from WPC's more than 170 community gardens

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