Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
The "Hands for Growing" course meets on Wednesdays during the summer at Legion Park.
Despite several weeks of rain and thunderstorms, the "Hands for Growing" summer program took advantage of the clear weather this week at Sidney Legion Park. The 10-week course meets every Wednesday and teaches kids entering 6th to 8th grades gardening and life skills.
Throughout the meetings, Pat Mertz, the pastoral minister of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and Tabitha McCloud, the community outreach educator for the DOVES Program, combine lessons and skills about planting a successful garden and maintaining safe and healthy friendships and relationships.
DOVES provides services and prevention against domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. By teaming up with St. Patrick's Church, Mertz said this is a way to educate kids in different aspects.
"We started a number of years ago with St. Pat's and DOVES working together as a way to teach kids about strong relationships," Mertz said. "One of the first things we do is teach about solid foundations, so we tie that to gardening with the soil and what is planted and how it's important to have a strong foundation in building proper relationships with family and friends. However, we have been dealing with weather and our garden has been hailed out before, so we relate that to what happens when relationships are destroyed."
According to Mertz and McCloud, with each week of the program comes a different lesson and activity. Kids have worked together to paint and planted a tree, paint raised flowerbeds and plant a wide range of plants and vegetables.
"This is a very hands on group effort," Mertz said. "We understand that kids may have other summer activities or priorities, but we are always welcoming and encourage those who are interested to come."
While getting a green thumb, McCloud added that it's never too early to teach children about how to acknowledge and recognize what a true healthy relationship is and how to detect unhealthy ones.
Students who are interested can register through St. Patrick's.
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