Eagle Scout project helps nonprofit

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - 

A nonprofit in South Bend received a new addition Saturday.

Unity Gardens was created by Sara Stewart in 2008, and since then it has been expanding. In an effort to provide the public with fresh and healthy food, the nonprofit now supports more than 40 gardens in the community and hosts over 500 volunteer groups every year.

But with the expansion comes more need. The nonprofit currently has no indoor space to host those volunteers or store equipment.  

“You can imagine how difficult that is, to put a tarp over our tractor or keep our truck out in the weather,” said Stewart. “We have to put our tools in the fenced area and so we’re wasting a lot of what could be growing space just trying to shove everything in.”

Randy Moore, an Eagle Scout with troop 173, volunteered at the gardens. So when it came time for a project, he approached Stewart.

“We gave him three possible projects that unity gardens would benefit from and he took on the hardest one,” said Stewart.

But Moore says he just wanted to do the most good.

“I wanted to pick the project that would be most beneficial to the property and the people here,” he said.

That project is a garage where equipment can be stored and the garden can host volunteers.

Stewart says she can’t say enough about Moore’s work.

“He’s been relentlessly fundraising, asking questions and coming back, making sure he understood everything in terms of the process,” she said.

Stewart also said the building shows the nonprofit is moving forward. A full building is also in the works for Unity Gardens.