September 4, 2009

Community gardens aren't the only place young Portlanders are gaining experience in growing food and giving back to their communities. In the latest Portland Sentinel, Rebecca Robinson reports on a local program teaching teens about much more than growing vegetables.

Food Works, an initiative of Janus Youh Programs, runs a one-acre farm on Sauvie Island and employs area teens to plant, maintain, and harvest a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Food Works' harvest is sold at farmers markets in downtown Portland and St. Johns and is donated to elderly residents of Portland - Robinson describes the teens' satisfaction at "watching them smile and say 'thank you'."

Says Lee, who has been with Food Works for two years, "We're teenagers trying to do something positive."

For more about this program visit the Janus Youth Programs website.

 Food Works workers helped plant the City Hall garden earlier this summer -see more pictures in our Photo Gallery.