The City of Rochester and Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve were recently recognized for their joint Rochester Community Garden project.
Keep Michigan Beautiful, a statewide organization, bestowed on them their second highest award, the Michigan Plaque, during their annual conference in Grand Rapids. City representatives Jaymes Vettraino and Kim Russell were on hand to receive the honor.
City Manager Jaymes Vettraino – The Rochester Community Garden is a collaborative project between the City of Rochester, the City Beautiful Commission and Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve. During its first year the garden hosted 42 area gardeners who paid a small fee to gain access to the garden where they grew a variety of vegetables using organic methods for personal use and for donation to area food banks.
Keep Michigan Beautiful, Inc. “annually recognizes programs and activities that substantially contribute to environmental improvement, clean up, beautification, site restoration and historical preservation” according to their web-site. “Dinosaur Hill is so proud to be associated with the Rochester Community Garden” comments Sue Neal, Executive Director. “The garden is a shining example of the great work that can be accomplished when residents, the City and the nonprofit community work together toward a shared vision”.
The garden was funded through a combination of sources including City funds and a grant from the Fiskars Corporation’s Project Orange Thumb. The garden was also recently expanded to include a children’s garden, which will be used for educational programs by Dinosaur Hill. This expansion was completed with a generous grant by the Home Depot Foundation which provided all the materials and labor to carry out the project.
More information about the Rochester Community Garden is available by subscribing to the newsletter by visiting www.dinosaurhill.org. Click on “sign up for newsletters” and select the “community garden”. Interested individuals can also contact Dinosaur Hill.
