Rezdy Culture Care: Giving Back to the CommunityOn February 14th, 2020, our U.S. team volunteered to work in a community garden rightin the heart of downtown Raleigh. This garden is run by an organization called TheInterfaith Food Shuttle. Interfaith Food Shuttle does many things that help people in ourcommunity experiencing food insecurities such as delivering food to the elderly inretirement homes, running a free food market in areas considered to be a food desert(this means that there is a lack of grocery venues accessible to people withoutvehicles), organizing a program called “Backpack Buddies” that sends food home fromschool with children who would otherwise go hungry in the evenings and on weekends,and running the community garden which provides fresh produce to parts of thecommunity where there is greater need.Our team was given a tour of the garden and learned all about how it operates andhelps the community. The main garden is tended by the organization and volunteers.This time of year they were growing various cabbages, collards, and baby broccoli.There were several other raised beds that were tended by families in the community.Jake and I had the privilege of meeting one of the community members, Clara. Clara isa very thoughtful, talkative elderly lady. Her garden bed had been taken over by weeds.We helped clear out all of the weeds and added fresh compost so she could plant herseedlings as soon as they were ready. She talked about her 7 kids who were grown.She is also a grandmother AND a great-grandmother. She reminisced about growingup on a farm as a child and helping her mother in the garden.Michaela, Kevin, and Andy worked with Jacob, one of the garden managers, washingfreshly picked lettuce and bagging it up so it could be handed out to the community overthe weekend along with other food and produce. We all helped cover some of the rowsin the garden to protect the plants from the cold.It is important for us to participate in events like this. Not only do we get to learn aboutwhat is going on in our community, we get to work together as a team outside of theoffice. We get to know each other better and build comradery. We plan to organizeopportunities like this every month that will allow each one of the Team Raleigh Rezdycrew to work together and give back to our community. Stay tuned….Written by Traci Ruffner