Last Friday, a group of us from Kronos went to UTEC (United Teen Equality Center) in Lowell, MA to do some landscaping and build some gardens.
UTEC has really struck a chord with me over the last 18 months that I have worked with them. I was on a jury a few years ago in Boston – totally unrelated to UTEC, watching a handsome young man, age 19, on trial for shooting two people at 2am on a hot summer day/night in August. I would just look at him at times and wonder how his life might have turned out differently. There was no one in the courtroom during the entire trial to lend a smile or support or just weep for him. No character witnesses like a teacher or friend to speak for him. As he heard the verdict of “guilty” read, I watched his youth get sucked-away in an instant. UTEC is about 30 miles from that young man’s town but faces similar challenges.
UTEC’s mission is to “…ignite and nurture the ambition of Lowell's most disconnected young people to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success.” What is also really compelling about UTEC are their goals around self-sufficiency – they have programs like GED and job training, including a mattress recycling center that brings in some income for the youth workers. They are going to open up a café by the end of May (that the youth will run), to the public.
On Friday, we went to UTEC to help them clean-up their outside property, clear sections for planting beds, and build 4 large garden planting boxes. The produce they are growing will be used by the café. We started the day at “Inspirations”, which is at 9am daily at UTEC. UTEC employees, volunteers and the UTEC youth join in a large circle to motivate each other for the day ahead. We then were briefed on the challenges and obstacles of providing fresh and organic produce to the inner city. Each event including team building and fun. We then asked the rain to hold-off for a few hours (it did), and we all focused on getting the gardens complete. It was hard work, but it was fun and exhilarating to see the before and after take shape.
Cool story: there was a random guy paying a parking ticket at the court house across the street from UTEC. He asked someone what we were doing, and he proceeded to pick-up a shovel to jump in. That is a whole new level of giving back.
Thanks to Greg Smith, Kathy Fichtner, Beth Russo, Roland Robinson, Gil Sullivan, Gautam Gupta, Alena McMullen, Scott Arzilli, Suzan Pillion, Bryce Brockelmann and Kieu Cassidy for their complete dedication to the day and UTEC. I was proud to be shoveling, weeding, tilling, sweeping, moving buckets of dirt and rock, by your side!
Barb Vlacich, Presales
