UC Clermont Receives $9,000 Duke Energy Grant to Transform Community Garden

UC Clermont College will be able to transform the Community Garden with the support of a $9,000 Duke Energy grant that the college recently received.

The UC Clermont Community Garden has donated approximately 6,350 pounds of fresh vegetables over a four-year period to the local community food banks and agencies including: James Sauls Shelter, YWCA, Anderson Senior Support Commission, Thomaston Woods, YMCA, Felicity Food Pantry, Goshen Township and OSU Extension.

The grant will help transform the existing Community Garden into a Field Service Station. This will serve two important functions: first, to dramatically increase the yield for needy members in our region and second to better utilize the space as a true functional outdoor classroom.

“Duke Energy is committed to supporting the communities that we serve. In this case, as we are helping to create learning opportunities as well as a more sustainable community. Through the educational component, we know the knowledge learned can help cultivate interest in building our future workforce – this is a win-win for us,” said Warren Walker, district manager, Community and Government Relations at Duke Energy.

“This will increase our students’ agricultural and biology knowledge base as we hold entire classes on site. It would also allow for more community volunteers and k-12 students to participate in experiential learning at the garden,” said Associate Biology Professor Krista Clark.

The Duke Energy Grant will also fund access to city water. Several droughts over the last two years severely limited the yield for those seasons. We are also installing a greenhouse that has limited solar electric. Running electrical lines will once again increase the Field Service Station’s ability to be used as a functioning classroom.