OVERLAND PARK, Ks — A greenhouse located on the Blue Valley School District campus officially reopened on Monday morning after sitting vacant for over a decade.
Twice a week, for two hours a day, Tristan Herhusky is at the greenhouse tending to his seedlings. Herhusky is a part of Blue Valley Schools 18-21 Services Program, which was created for students with disabilities who graduated from high school, but are not quite ready to leave the nest.
Jackie Malec is the Transition Specialist for the program.
“We practice life skills, cooking, cleaning, gardening, vocational skills," Malec said. "So some of them will do a variety of job internships. These years really give us that opportunity to tap into what they see for their future and how can we get them there.”
It is hard to believe with all its greenery now, but the greenhouse was abandoned for a long time. It was not until this year that Malec connected with Ken Sonnenschein, the founder and president of Mitzvah Garden KC, and brought it back to life.
Sonnenschein needed the space to expand and students needed the experience to grow.
“As the garden grew, we had more and more need for seedlings — seedlings in the thousands for growing lettuce and kale and cabbage and tomatoes, peppers and squash and all the vegetables you see at the grocery store,” said Sonnenschein.
The seedlings incubated in the greenhouse will be moved over to Mitzvah Garden KC. There, the plants will grow to harvest. Everything grown and picked will then be distributed to local food panties, including the Blue Valley Schools pantry run by 18-21 students like Herhusky.
“What they’ve grown so far is gonna equal 36,000 servings of food" Farm Coordinator Nick Smith said. "That’s going directly to Kansas City families — that’s huge."
Mitzvah Garden KC produced just under 12,000 pounds of food last season, and with this partnership, they hope to double it this year.
“What we do now with the help of Blue Valley School District and 18-21 Services is help to fill these very large gaps, which are becoming increasingly large, as you say, because the cost of food is increasing,” said Sonnenschein. “This experience, and just in general Mitzvah Garden KC, speaks to food insecurity and the challenges of people having access to food. Particularly access to fresh produce.”
