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Hi <<First Name>>,
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
We love this quote from Winston Churchill. It perfectly captures what Olivia’s Organics is all about – helping employees, customers and neighbors live a healthy, fresh life while doing good in their communities. That’s why we’re so excited to give you the inside scoop on an incredible event that recently brought together more than one hundred volunteers in Chelsea, MA.
Just last week, Olivia’s team members joined GreenRoots, the City of Chelsea, KaBOOM!, and JetBlue for a day of rewarding hard work to build a multi-sport court at Devers Park in Chelsea. While many volunteers installed the court, others built park benches, put up basketball hoops, painted, and planted flowers. Olivia’s was on hand to serve fresh salads with tasty toppings to go with pizza donated from a local restaurant for lunch. The highlight of the day was the Chelsea Police ice cream truck, serving up smiles and cool treats for everyone working hard in the heat!
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Together, the many volunteers transformed Devers park into an incredible space perfect for multiple sports - basketball, volleyball, soccer and more. Everyone played a part in this community venture, and our Olivia’s team loved working alongside the many supporting partners. In fact, we loved it so much that we want to share more about GreenRoots and the powerful work the group is doing in Chelsea.
To do that, we’re going to introduce you all to Leilani Mroczkowski, the Food Justice Organizer & Youth Coordinator at GreenRoots. Take it away, Leilani!
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Tell us a bit about GreenRoots, Inc. and what you do for the awesome organization!
GreenRoots is a community-based, grassroots organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea and surrounding communities. We’ve been doing environmental justice work for 25 years through collective action, unity, education and youth leadership. We believe that Chelsea and other communities have the right to thrive as ethnically, racially, culturally and economically diverse communities whose residents have access to open spaces, parks and the waterfront. I work as a food justice organizer and youth coordinator. In my role, I work with our residents to better understand issues of food insecurity and injustice and seek to create community-led solutions to those issues. Our Environmental Chelsea Organizers (ECO) are a group a six teens that not only work to resolve issues that youth in their communities are experiencing, but also organize for youth voices to be included and respected in all sectors of society.
What’s your favorite part about working with the GreenRoots, Inc. team?
I love working and learning alongside community members. I see myself as more of a facilitator of discussion and action and really enjoy helping make the connections so residents can fight for the solutions that they believe will resolve the issues they are experiencing. Every day is different and I love seeing how my work has evolved and continues to evolve depending on the needs of the community.
We’ve heard from the Olivia’s team that visiting and volunteering at the urban farm has been an incredible experience! Can you share a bit about these visits and some of the things volunteers can help with?
We love working with our Olivia’s volunteers who come from all different backgrounds and bring their own personal knowledge of growing food to our space. We start off each session getting to know one another, the space and the mission of the project. Tasks can vary from watering to harvesting to pruning tomatoes to learning about organic pest and disease management. Did you know that a milk, baking soda and water spray will help prevent fungal and bacterial diseases that commonly afflict tomatoes?
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GreenRoots, Inc.’s mission to achieve environmental justice and greater quality of life is inspiring. What is environmental justice and how are you working to address it?
Environmental justice is the belief that all people, regardless of race, income, national origin, etc. have the right to live in an environment that is safe. Communities with low-income individuals, immigrants and people of color are often burdened by being the sites for pollutant-heavy industries. For example, the Chelsea Creek is home to 100% of the Boston Logan Airport jet fuel storage, 80% of New England’s heating oil storage and salt mountains that supply over 350 New England cities and towns with road salt. Our community also has the highest number of childhood asthma hospitalizations and is considered the most food insecure municipality in Massachusetts. We believe this is unjust and we help organize our community against these injustices by educating our residents about industrial, commercial and luxury developments and policies that negatively affect us. We then work with residents to strategize campaigns and actions as a way to fight back against systemic institutional oppression.
If there was one piece of advice you had to share about improving the environment both locally and beyond, what would it be?
We need to financially and politically support the solutions of people whose lives are directly impacted by environmental injustice. The 5th Environmental Justice Principle states that, “Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all peoples.” We know that the communities that are experiencing environmental injustice are the experts of their issues and have the best solutions to resolving them.
Where can people find more information about volunteering at GreenRoots, Inc.?
People can find out about volunteer opportunities by subscribing to our newsletter found at www.greenrootschelsea.org. And check us out on Facebook @GreenRootsChelsea and on Instagram @GreenRootsChelsea.
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Thanks so much, Leilani! It’s great to hear more about GreenRoots and your important work.
We’re always on the lookout for great causes to support and share how our readers are giving back. Drop us a line at teamolivias@oliviasorganics.org. Or post a picture of you and your family and friends volunteering and making your community a better place and tag @Olivias_Organics and use the hashtag #oliviasopenmic.
Thanks so much for making Olivia’s part of your fresh, healthy life. Have a great day!
Team Olivia’s
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