On May 12th, we partnered with more than 70 volunteers from Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School to make much-needed improvements and repairs to the facilities and grounds of Urban Roots, a Saint Paul organization with a mission to build vibrant and healthy communities through food, conservation and youth development. Urban Roots cultivates youth leaders and supports healthy communities on the Saint Paul’s East Side through paid internship programs that provide hands-on learning and foster critical life skills around entrepreneurial thinking, resilience and collaboration. Their experiential “earn as you learn” programs are grounded in improving urban food systems, supporting and fostering connection to Saint Paul’s parks and green spaces, and promoting active living. They provide internship opportunities for 60 + youth annually.
Like many nonprofits, Urban Roots invests its limited funding into their programs. With the support of Honeywell and the hard work of Honeywell employees and Robbinsdale Cooper High School students, we were able to provide repairs and improvements, including building portable benches, constructing a storage shed, repairing and staining picnic tables, building a compost bin, cleaning and re-mulching the learning area, and painting a hallway and exterior stair rails. Patsy Noble, Senior Program Director of Urban Roots, said of the work completed, “Wow it’s like magic! Every time I come out something new is done. We would never have been able to do this with our staff.”
Thank you to Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School for partnering with us to help ensure that Urban Roots can continue to serve Saint Paul’s youth!
