By Sterling McGinn
Members of the Luce County Communities that Care Coalition and other community volunteers spent last Saturday and Sunday working to clean and improve the Tahquamenon Area Schools (TAS) Community Garden in Newberry.
Established years ago on West McMillan Avenue on the site of the former Methodist Church Parsonage, the lot was overgrown and needed sprucing up. An employee of the LMAS District Health Department saw the potential and took action.
The cleanup project was headed by Nicole McDaniel, a health educator at LMAS District Health Department who focuses on tobacco health.
McDaniel promotes tobacco-free outdoor spaces where youth are not exposed to tobacco products. Because this garden is owned by the school, it falls under the district’s tobacco-free policy.
“Clearing and updating this space helped create another usable and safe tobacco-free location for Luce County,” McDaniel said.
She has designed outdoor signs establishing tobacco-free zones that are available free to any municipality, business, or school that wants to create smoke-free spaces.
Over the weekend, volunteers spent the day clearing brush, picking up trash, weeding, and raking. Village of Newberry crews removed the brush and other lawn debris gathered during the project.
“I can’t say enough to the volunteers who showed up to help complete this project,” McDaniel said. “I hope with the newly prepped space that TAS and the community can all come together to help grow this garden into something great.”
Though the school owns the garden and is ultimately responsible for its future, McDaniel shared information with school officials on how they could use the site going forward, and also creating potential partnerships with the library and other community groups.
Future projects at the garden site could involved the district’s shop, band, art or biology classes, McDaniel said. She also pointed to the mental health benefits for students and community members that come from working in a green space.
