Logan Hill knows gardening has to be done early in the morning, especially during a heat wave like last week. Hill devotes volunteer work to teaching middle and high school students about growing their own food. Beyond that, his and others' volunteer work aims to teach financial literacy and form a bond between teenagers and retirees in the community. Project HOPE has officially shifted dirt in Alcoa since 2018, although a similar program was formed a decade earlier.
During the Alcoa Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, the 16th of June, members unanimously approved Hill's request to continue Project HOPE. The pilot program provides a stipend to Alcoa Middle School students, who can choose to participate throughout high school as well, for growing and maintaining a community garden that provides produce to elderly community members. The other request from Hill to the planning commission was to approve a greenhouse structure and establish a community garden that he, other volunteers, and Project HOPE students would upkeep.
Located in the Hall Community, Hill wants the garden to be on two separate lots off Volta Street, the greenhouse on one with raised plant beds and rows of in-ground plants on the other lot. Alcoa proposed a location near the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center on East Franklin Street since the public property is written into current provisions for a community garden.
The greenhouse, which is proposed to be an 18 feet by 34 feet high tunnel, will extend the growing season by two months, Hill said.
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