A whirlwind of activity has taken place over the past 10 weeks since the Villages Community Marketplace groundbreaking event, held back on March 8, 2022. From Community Garden preparation to fantastic inside design suggestions coming from our weekly community meetings, from dozens of volunteers cleaning up in the facility and maintaining the lawn, to a food station being donated, it has been a very busy 10 weeks.
To recap, what is the Villages Community Market; is a central hub bringing a community together while providing access to healthy and fresh groceries.
The level of urgency and tempo was set by Senator Troy Singleton on the day of our groundbreaking by putting out a $5,000 match challenge. If we could get $5,000 donated in 1 week time Senator Singleton would match that from his own pocket. Well, challenge accepted, and completed. Thanks to all of you and our supporters. Right on the heels of that were several very successful clean up volunteer events where the surrounding fence was painted a beautiful calming green.
As we move through spring the community garden planning has made some great strides in design, layout, and of course plants. This has been a collaboration with the juice bar team with local farm and garden centers along with the Burlington municipality.
In the next coming weeks, we are planning on getting the community garden together and planted and get some major building repairs scheduled. If you or anyone would like to participate in our next coming volunteer days scheduled for May 25, June 8, and June 22 please contact us at https://theopportunity.org.
Written By: Christopher Jackson
