NYCHA Staff Volunteer at NYCHA Farms During Climate Week
NYCHA employees from across the Authority came together during Climate Week 2023 to volunteer at six different Farms at NYCHA, give back to their communities, and enjoy a few days of urban-farming fun together.
Thirty-eight NYCHA staffers – as well as two NYCHA retirees – gathered during the week of September 21 at Bayview, Howard, Pink, Wagner, Forest, and Mariners Harbor farm sites to work with one another on a host of volunteer projects.
“It’s one of my favorite workdays here at NYCHA,” said Debora Lopes, a Policy Advisor with NYCHA’s Sustainability Team who both organized the week’s efforts as well as served as a farm volunteer herself. “It’s so different from a standard workday, which I usually spend working at a computer! Just seeing the staff and the residents working together – you can see the appreciation on all their faces.”
Ms. Lopes said that NYCHA Sustainability and Asset & Capital Management staff have been volunteering at NYCHA farm sites twice a year for a few years now – around Earth Day in April, to reopen the farms and do the planting, and during Climate Week in September, during harvest time.
“Those two times of year, Earth Day and Climate Week, are really two great opportunities to bring sustainability to the forefront of people’s attention,” said Ms. Lopes. “And what could be a better way to focus on sustainability than getting your hands dirty and helping out NYCHA’s farms?”
This was the first year that the Farms at NYCHA volunteering opportunity became available to all staff across the entire Authority. Juliana Lie, a NYCHA resident who joined NYCHA as a full-time employee last year, seized the opportunity – and spoke with NYCHANow about it:
What was your Climate Week volunteer experience like?
I volunteered at NYCHA farms twice during Climate Week this year – first at Wagner Houses in East Harlem and then at Pink Houses in Brooklyn three days later. I was so excited! Being a part of this community at NYCHA is wonderful, because I just really like helping people. When you can do something good for other people, it just feels good. I’m so glad I could be a part of it.
What did you enjoy most about your experience?
Wagner Houses is in East Harlem – it is amazing to have such a big farm right in the middle of Manhattan! I had the chance to learn about harvesting, and to think about just how hard it is for real farmers to grow food every day.
Had you ever worked on a farm before?
This was my first time. I have volunteered with other NYCHA programs before, but never on one of the farms. It’s just a great way to give back to the community. It feels so good – you feel blessed to do it. People at NYCHA have always been so nice to me, and I just feel that I want to give back to the community. I’m also a NYCHA resident – I live in one of the NYCHA developments in West Harlem, and I volunteered not so far from where I live.
I feel for my community, especially for the kids. The kids in my development deserve our love and respect, and programs like NYCHA farms are really good for them. And then when you see the harvest – it’s fantastic! The vegetables were beautiful. We worked to cut away all the dry leaves and branches on a big variety of plants: tomatoes, cucumbers, collard greens, asparagus, Swiss chard, purple cabbage – I had never seen purple cabbage before – and onions and strawberries. It was truly inspiring.
What do you do for NYCHA when you aren’t volunteering?
I work for NYCHA as an Invoice Processing Manager and Payment Administrator in Long Island City. My volunteering is really just part of giving back to NYCHA. It just feels right, when you have received something so good from NYCHA – which I truly have – then you want to give something back to NYCHA. I’m just so proud to be a part of this NYCHA community.
For more information on opportunities to volunteer with Farms at NYCHA and beyond, please email sustainability@nycha.nyc.gov.
