Cottonwood Institute is in its third year of partnering with Re:Vision for its Urban Farm Volunteer Project to provide a volunteer day that supports the growing Westwood neighborhood of Denver.  Eighteen eager volunteers gathered on a Saturday morning, September 30th, 2017 with various connections to CI including board members, advisory members, instructors, friends of CI, and some who were new to CI and just excited to help a good cause!

Re:Vision is an organization working to cultivate thriving, resilient communities. Westwood is one of the densest, youngest, and poorest neighborhoods in Denver. Yet is is culturally rich with incredibly talented people and a tight sense of community. It is also a food desert with no ready access to healthy and affordable foods. This property was purchased in partnership with the City of Denver in 2014, and will eventually house the full-service grocery store, a community arts center, heritage food hall, commercial commissary kitchen, and office/co-working space.*

Wow, so inspiring!  Every year we work with them we love seeing the transformation of this property from an old waste yard to the vibrant community gathering space it is becoming.  We were excited to be a part of this mission for the day and help out in any way we could.  The latest development and focus is on building a new greenhouse on property.  Part of our volunteers helped prep and prepare an area for greenhouse construction.  Another part of our crew created more usable space in a storage shipping container by clearing out shelving and moving it to the main building where there was more room.  Lastly, the day was not complete without getting our hands dirty in the garden.  We did some much needed weeding in the pepper gardens and carried away numerous wheel-borrow loads to the compost.

We ended the day with good feelings of accomplishment and happy bellies!  After a job well done, lunch was provided by our good friends at Chipotle and beer from Great Divide Brewing Company.  Thank you Re:Vision for your continued partnership and your work to make the Westwood community thriving and resilient for years to come.

(*Crediting Joseph Teipel at Re:Vision for helping with Re:Vision description above.)

Check out pictures from the day here!

A special thank you to Joseph Teipel and David at Re:Vision for your help setting this project up. We would also like to give a huge shout out to Chipotle Mexican Grill, Great Divide Brewing Company, and Climax Molybdenum for your amazing support!

Written by CI Program Manager Taryn Longberry.