Fresh vegetables, grown in Bellevue, soon will supplement the nonperishable items clients receive at North Hills Community Outreach's food pantries in Bellevue and Hampton.
In fact, some already are being harvested from an organic garden at 119 Davis Ave. The produce grown will be given to the 400 to 500 families who use the pantries every month. If the garden flourishes, the outreach will share with other local food pantries.
In 2008, Teresa Amelio of McCandless, a North Hills Community Outreach volunteer, donated the one-third acre of land that is the site of the garden with the vision that fruits and vegetables grown there would be given to pantry families. The garden is named the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden in memory of her mother, who died in 1983.
Ribbon-cutting for the garden will be held there at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, followed by a garden tea party at the James Porch Gazebo next to Bayne Library, 34 N. Balph Ave. from 2 to 6 p.m.
The back of the home on Center Avenue in Bellevue, where Mrs. Amelio grew up, faces Davis Avenue and the garden across the street. She remembers selling some of the vegetables grown organically by her Italian immigrant parents, Luigi and Rosalinda Sirianni, to neighbors. Mrs. Amelio, now in her 70s, and her husband Salvatore are putting the land to further good use,
"I'm so happy because that land has been sitting there for years and I wanted to do something with it. I got involved with NHCO and asked if they could use it. I'm so pleased the canned foods clients receive will be enriched with the items grown in the garden."
North Hills Community Outreach was formed after a devastating flood in 1986 ravaged parts of the North Hills. Religious and community leaders joined to help flood victims and the outreach was incorporated in 1987 with the mission of People Helping People.
The organization, headquartered in Hampton, has expanded to include satellite offices in Millvale and Bellevue, as well as programs such as Free Rides for Seniors, Community Auto, and numerous others.
To reclaim Ms. Amelio's ground, though, volunteers first had to remove weeds, brush, trees and thousands of pounds of bricks, rusted metal, broken glass and other debris that had accumulated over the past 20 years.
The Siriannis are also remembered through the Luigi Sirianni Family Memorial Field, a ballfield that was donated in 1994 by Mrs. Amelio's brothers, Nicola and Ernest, to the Bellevue-Avalon Girls Athletic Association.
Outreach garden coordinator Rosie Wise watered the garden, which she said was planted using the sloping contours of the property to reduce soil erosion and water run-off. Bellevue agreed to allow the agency to tap into the water line at the borough's utility building across the street from the garden.
The garden also saw help from community members.
Retired carpenter George Becker, 63, of Bellevue, worked on a metal mesh fence to keep the deer at bay. Mr. Becker said the gate was built wide enough for a truck to access the shed he also built, along with helping with the fence and compost bin.
"These people are so idealistic. They work hard and still have fun," Mr. Becker said of the outreach staff and volunteers. He said union carpenters volunteered to set the fence posts.
Two raised beds -- one four feet high and the other, two feet -- contain herbs and are designed to accommodate volunteers who find it difficult to stoop. The garden also has rows of onions, pole and bush beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, cherry and regular tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, said Ms. Wise, who has worked at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and as a soil conservation technician for the Department of Agriculture.
Close to 100 volunteers logged 250 hours since March, she said.
The garden was aided by a $75,000 two-year grant from Allegheny Grows, split among new urban gardens in Bellevue, Wilkinsburg and Penn Hills. It provided technical assistance, plants and material, according to Liza Walrath, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer events coordinator at Community Outreach.
The program is in collaboration with Pittsburgh Grows, which encourages city gardening, and the grant also is providing second-year costs for gardens in Millvale and McKees Rocks. Source of the money is federal community development block grants.
"We had the soil tested and it was great for gardening," Ms. Walrath said.
Ms. Walrath is chairwoman of a jazz-age garden party celebrating the garden's grand opening.
The ribbon-cutting party will include live music, refreshments provided by local businesses, a flower market, croquet and activities for youngsters. Theme attire is encouraged. The event is free; donations will benefit the garden. For information, call 412-487-6316, option 2.
Volunteers are needed to weed, water, harvest, and deliver the food to the pantries and cut grass. To help, contact Rosie Wise at 412-307-0069 or rmwise@nhco.org.
First published on June 23, 2011 at 5:52 am
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