College Students Volunteer with Habitat-NYC to Spring-Clean a Brooklyn Community Garden

Online, March 28, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Brooklyn, NY, March 27 - Students from six New York City colleges volunteered with Habitat for Humanity - New York City this weekend to give a spring cleaning to the Hart to Hart community garden in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

All members of Habitat Campus Chapters, students from Fordham Law School, Columbia University, New York University, St. John's University, City College and Wagner College spent Saturday
clearing out garden beds and pathways, building a compost bin and preparing the space for a new planting season.

The Hart to Hart garden is near 16 new affordable homes that Habitat-NYC is constructing in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

A decade ago, the garden was transformed from a vacant lot filled with old cars, building debris and drug activity to a productive garden. Today, neighbors use the garden for community events and for growing produce. Members of the garden also collect rainwater from the building next door, host school groups, potlucks and cook-outs and participated in the citywide fall leaf collection.

Margot Dorn, who is active with the Hart to Hart Garden, said, "I think it is amazing that folks are giving their Saturday to come and help us make our garden more beautiful."

She added, "The garden keeps us sane; it helps us know our neighbors and work as a community; it nourishes us and keeps us healthy. Without it I would not be able to live in this city."