For its 9th W.A.B.A.S.H. Day event, the St. Louis Association of Wabash Men (and two of our wives) again partnered with Gateway Greening to refurbish a community garden. This year, we volunteered at the COLA Victory Youth garden located in the Bellefontaine area in northeast St. Louis. Gateway Greening is a non-profit organization in St. Louis whose mission is to contribute to neighborhood vitality and stability through community food projects, education and wellness programs, and civic greening. The COLA Victory Youth Garden is a local program serving at-risk youth to provide a learning environment that will aid in providing them with a marketable skill. The produce is not sold, but is given to the Grass Roots Food Pantry for distribution.
Working with two Victory Garden volunteers (Victor and Sandra Wood) this year’s assignment consisted of cleaning out roughly 20 raised vegetable gardens, collecting any remaining produce and composting the resulting debris. Six (6) alumni and two wives from the St. Louis area spanning 43 years of Wabash classes participated in this year’s event, including Mike Kelley ’70, who has attended all but one of the St. Louis WABASH Day events, and recent graduates Kenny Farris ’12 and Rob Dyer ’13, first time WABASH Day volunteers. In the picture provided, the alumni participating were (from second from left to right): Dr. John Williams ’85, Mike Kelley ’70, Jim Dyer ’83, Rob Dyer ’13, Kenny Farris ’12, and Kevin Pastore ’95. Also participating were Edwina Kelley, wife of Mike Kelley, and Susan Dyer (DePauw ’83), wife of Jim Dyer.
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