{"id":699,"date":"2021-11-08T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/magazine-2021\/?p=699"},"modified":"2024-08-12T14:31:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T18:31:02","slug":"the-spirit-of-serving-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/magazine-2021\/2021\/11\/the-spirit-of-serving-others\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Serving Others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It was a typical\nSaturday morning at The Citadel. The sun was out, my roommate was asleep and I\nwas tying up my boots to go volunteer somewhere called Sweetgrass Garden. The\nname alone was reason to go there, but its mission of providing produce to\nlocal food distribution centers, educating the public about sustainable farming\nand simply giving food to those in need really struck a chord in my heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sweetgrass Garden\nwas founded by Dr. George Taylor and Dale Snyder nearly a decade ago with a\ngenerous donation of land from a Kiawah Island resident. Last year, Sweetgrass\ngrew and donated about 6,000 pounds of produce to charitable food distribution\nagencies in South Carolina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I arrived at\nSweetgrass, I was amazed by what I saw. There were hugelkultur bins overflowing\nwith fruits and vegetables; there were goats and ducks roaming around, roosters\nchasing volunteers (little did they know we were there to help), and a pile of\nwood and plastic stacked up in a corner. Jennifer Wicker was the backbone of the\noperation, and after we introduced ourselves, she informed us that we were\ngoing to build a greenhouse that day using the pile of wood and plastic\nmaterials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My jaw dropped. I\nremember the feeling of excitement because what we were doing would go a long way\nto help people in need. But then a wave of doubt hit me. What did I know about\nconstruction?&nbsp; And yet, after\nmeticulously planning, we all came together and created a wonderful greenhouse.\nMore than anything I\u2019d ever done before, building the greenhouse with my fellow\ncadets and Jennifer that day opened my eyes to the impact of service and giving\nto others, and I left a changed person. Three years after the construction of\nthat greenhouse, Sweetgrass Garden is alive with two greenhouses, hugelkultur\nbins everywhere and more goats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sweetgrass produces\na wide variety of crops. Strawberries and blueberries are at their finest in\nthe spring. Heads of cabbage bloom in abundance thereafter, and the most\nbeautiful selection of vibrant red tomatoes and peppers ripen in the summer.\nThen there are the goats, great companions and partners in yoga, but more\nimportantly a prime resource for clearing land without the use of chemicals.\nLastly, Sweetgrass wouldn\u2019t be Sweetgrass without the bees. Bees are a sign of\na well-functioning ecosystem, and Sweetgrass is just that. The bees of\nSweetgrass Garden actually drive the amount of food donated each year because\nof their pollination. The bees pollinate everything on the farm and, in doing\nso, produce some of the best all-natural honey and honeycomb that I have ever\ntasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/magazine-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/Sweetgrass-Character-Internal.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-75\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\"\/><figcaption>On Johns Island, South Carolina, cadet volunteers work at Sweetgrass Garden, a farm dedicated to expanding food access and sustainable farming. Credit: Cameron Pollack \/ The Citadel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I have been\nvolunteering at Sweetgrass for almost four years now, spending a summer at the\nfarm and helping out at least every other weekend. In that time, I have helped\nbuild two greenhouses and assemble multiple hugelkultur bins, and I have\nparticipated in a number of sustainability and conservation projects. I have\nwalked miles and miles feeding goats, and I have learned that farming is not\njust about growing crops\u2014it\u2019s about the cultivation of human beings. The staff\nand volunteers at Sweetgrass Garden demonstrate their true dedication not only\nto service but to educating every person who visits the farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I grew up in a\nfamily of nine. We worked day in and day out, barely making ends meet. It was\nalways the little things that mattered. Fast forward to my career at The\nCitadel:&nbsp; the memories of others helping\nme and those I love propelled me to the path I am on today. From my initial\njourney in high school when I first decided to participate in an Adopt-A-Road\nprogram to the volunteer work at Sweetgrass Garden, I have learned that the\nimpact I have on those I serve is immeasurable. Nothing else could match the\nfeeling I get from making a difference in the lives of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sweetgrass Garden is\none of the organizations where I feel that I derive more benefit than the\npeople I serve. The experience has helped transform me into a more patient,\nflexible and responsible leader. I cherish the ability to influence and help\nothers, and to see community service as a benefit to my personal growth, not\njust another obligation on my schedule. Sweetgrass and my community service\nexpeditions have helped to shape me in ways I didn\u2019t know possible, challenging\nme to do better and be a cadet who embodies the spirit of serving others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jeremy Walker is a senior cadet and Bravo Company commander from Tampa, Florida. A double major in criminal justice and psychology with a fine arts minor, Walker is a member of the track and field team. He plans to commission in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation in May. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a typical Saturday morning at The Citadel. The sun was out, my roommate was asleep and I was tying up my boots to go volunteer somewhere called Sweetgrass Garden. The name alone was reason to go there, but its mission of providing produce to local food distribution centers, educating the public about sustainable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-pillars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Spirit of Serving Others - The Citadel Magazine 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/magazine-2021\/2021\/11\/the-spirit-of-serving-others\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spirit of Serving Others\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was a typical Saturday morning at The Citadel. 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