- The Village Flower Farm and Community Center, founded through a chance meeting between local teens and Tara Jegla, teaches youth the value of kindness through gardening and community service.
- As part of FOX 47 and ePIFanyNow's Week of Kindness, we are highlighting how the nonprofit brings Lansing neighbors together to grow both flowers and connections.
- The initiative shows how small acts of kindness, like opening a door or planting a flower, can lead to meaningful, lasting change in the neighborhood
- If you would like to donate to this nonprofit, you can click the link at the end of the broadcast script
(The following is a transcript of the broadcast script)
It's a Week of Kindness here at FOX 47, and with help from ePIFanyNow, we're shining a spotlight on local nonprofits whose work is transforming lives. I'm your neighborhood reporter, Asya Lawrence, and today we're at The Village Flower Farm and Community Center, where volunteers and Lansing youth are spreading kindness—one flower at a time.
"It's doing things out of your way to be kind to others and make them feel better... that's what kindness is to me." Joshua McNeil said.
Three years ago, 15-year-old Joshua McNeil and his friends crossed paths with Tara Jegla—and saw what kindness truly means.
"We found Tara at the store. We held the door open, and she asked if we wanted to help her move some stuff—and we said yeah," said TJ Mitchell.
From moving bags to planting flowers, Tara and this group of boys soon began what is now the Village Flower Farm and Community Center—and their garden keeps growing every day.
"It all started with a knock on the door. If we just take a chance on an opportunity when it knocks, you can grow great things." Jegla said.
Over the years, The Village Flower Farm and Community Center has picked up many supporters and volunteers. And this Monday, as part of the Week of Kindness, neighbors from all walks of life came together to plant the seeds for a garden that means so much to so many.
"What keeps you coming back?" I asked Mitchell.
"To be a better person," he replied.
This now-complete garden, filled with flowers planted with care...
"Just put the soil around it and pat it down like this," McNeil explained.
...will soon be available to neighbors—serving as a living reminder of what can bloom when a community comes together.
"If you just scatter a little kindness, you can really make a big difference. It takes just one ripple to create waves." Jegla said.
https://givebutter.com/WeekofKindness
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