The little hands of two young Kutztown residents have volunteered their time to give back to their community by pitching in with the Kutztown Thriving Committee’s establishment of a native plant garden.
Marina Schnell, 13, and Egan Sewell, 7, contributed to the project in inspiring ways that the whole community can enjoy.
In May, Kutztown Thriving, part of Kutztown Community Partnership, began its Pollinator Project by building a native pollinator garden at the Welcome to Kutztown sign on the corner of Constitution Blvd. and Greenwich Street.
“A pollinator garden,” said Nancy Brooks, Main Street Manager of KCP, “is designed to provide native flowers and foliage as a food source for pollinators like butterflies and bees to help them reproduce.”
Since the project began, Kutztown Thriving volunteers have brought their families along in hopes to engage their children with the community.
Marina, daughter of Kutztown resident Lisa Schnell, contributed to the garden by making “Puddles for Pollinators.” As part of a service project for her bat mitzvah, Marina made ceramic dishes which hold a mixture that helps to attract pollinators to a garden.
“A bat mitzvah is about giving back to the community,” said Marina. “Kutztown Thriving is helping make Kutztown a better place.”
Marina chose to make the puddles as her contribution to the garden because she wanted to give back to the community while displaying her interest in ceramics. The puddles display a shallow center where water and a soil and sand mixture can be placed. The compost can be put in a sunny area of a garden and its sandy mixture provides pollinators with minerals and nutrients while drinking water from the dish.
The puddles are available for purchase at the Kutztown Community Partnership office, at 306 West Main Street in Kutztown.
Kutztown Thriving volunteer and father of Egan, Jake Sewell, introduced Egan to the project in May and he has been involved ever since. Egan took the time out of his summer to create a lemonade stand to help collect money for the Pollinator Project. The purpose of the lemonade stand was to raise additional funds for Kutztown Thriving in order to buy more native plants for the garden. During his time volunteering, Egan learned the importance of native plants rather than exotic species in a garden.
The Pollinator Project is the first initiative Kutztown Thriving has completed in their mission to sustain a healthy community.
