More Amazing Volunteers!

We often say that MOSI Outside couldn't run without the help of our volunteers. During the month of September, we hosted two very successful volunteer groups who helped make an enormous difference throughout our gardens and deserve recognition for working hard in the hot sun (and occasional rain). The fact that both groups involved young people made the experiences that much more important and impressive.

Whole Foods
On Thursday, September 12, Whole Foods Carrollwood hosted a volunteer session for employees and guests, which included kids as young as 10. These volunteers were here for just two hours, but managed to install several hundred plants along our front walk, in the wall around BioWorks, near the front entrance pond, and (perhaps most importantly), in the Flight Encounter. Kids and adults alike enjoyed being surrounded by butterflies as they worked, and were treated to a dinner of salads, fruit, and smoothies by Whole Foods when they finished. A big thanks to this group for their time - and for showing up despite the threatening rain showers! See the rest of the photos on our Facebook page.

Tomlin Middle and Strawberry Crest High School
This year marked our second annual collaboration with the STEM program at Tomlin Middle School, with the addition of a small group of students from Strawberry High School. These 150(!) student and their teachers and chaperones worked in the hot sun to accomplish a truly incredible amount of work. These students worked extremely hard and made an unbelievable difference in our Historic Tree Grove throughout the course of the day. Some of what they accomplished: 

• 35 cubic yards of mulch was spread over nearly an acre of individual gardens 
• 7 cubic yards of topsoil were added to our new Tire Garden underneath the Henry Ford Sycamore 
• A large trailer full of weeds and summer overgrowth was removed 
• 16 benches were added to the Grove, one for each tree

Here are a few photos of their work. See the rest on our Facebook page.

Our sincere thanks to these two groups of volunteers for their hard work. If your group is looking for volunteer opportunities, we encourage you to contact us at kristeng@mosi.org.