The woman held out her hand. “I’m Anita. You must be Ashley and Matthew.”
They shook Anita’s hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ashley said. “I’ve heard some great things about what you’re doing here.”
“We try our best, but we wouldn’t be able to do half of our programs without volunteers.”
“How many volunteers work here each day?” Ashley asked.
“It depends on the programs we’re running. At the moment, we have about fifteen volunteers. We’ve had to scale back some of our programs.” A little boy ran up to Anita and hugged her legs. She ruffled his hair and smiled. “We had to reduce the hours our day care is open. That’s why there are quite a few young children in this room. By ten-thirty they’ll be in another room, having something to eat and enjoying activities just for them.”
Harry pointed to one side of the room. “Come and see what’s happening in the kitchen. On Fridays, the kids work out what they’re going to eat the following week. They budget their money, and on Monday, buy groceries and pre-cook some of their meals while they’re here.”
Ashley looked over her shoulder. Matthew was following them silently across the room. “Is everything okay?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Regardless of what happens with the Foundation, the youth center has to stay open.”
“I hope so, too.”
Anita stopped outside the kitchen. A stainless steel counter was surrounded by ten teenagers. Recipe books were open and their heads were bent, studying the ingredients.
One of the teenagers saw them and smiled. “Have you seen what we’ve got,” she said, pointing to a small table behind them.
Ashley was amazed at the number of tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuces sitting there.
“Are they from our garden?” Anita asked.
The teenager nodded. “It’s the most we’ve picked at once. Mr. Banks brought us some peaches and grapes from his garden, too.”
“You’re extra lucky.”
The teenager nodded and went back to reading the cookbooks.
After they had left the kitchen, Ashley asked Anita about the garden.
“A lot of the children who come here haven’t seen a vegetable garden. There was an empty lot behind the building that was full of trash and weeds. After talking with the kids, we decided to create our own vegetable garden. A local contractor brought in a bulldozer and cleared most of the land. Our teenagers did the rest. They worked with the younger children to plant their first crop of summer vegetables. We won’t be able to do much over winter, but it’s a start in helping them become self-sufficient.”
“Can I take some photos of the garden?” Harry asked.
“Of course you can. Follow me.”
Anita took them through another set of doors.
Ashley stared at the huge room they’d entered. It must have been three or four storey’s high. A game of basketball was underway, and the two teams were running hard.
Matthew stood beside her. “This is where all the sports activities are played.”
“It’s an enormous room.”
“The original warehouse stored all its products in here.” Matthew nodded toward four sets of double-height doors. “That’s the loading bay. This place must be like an ice box in winter.”
“I can’t believe another company didn’t buy the property when it first came on the market.”
“After the warehouse closed, this block of land was rezoned as a residential area. The building was empty for ten years before the Foundation purchased it.”
“Have you seen the garden?”
Matthew shook his head. “No. Hazel only showed me what was inside the building.”
