North Hills Community Outreach Garden Gets Planting Help From Service Corps

Volunteers from Allegheny County's KEYS Service Corps group and other AmeriCorps organizations on Saturday will prepare North Hills Community Outreach's Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni community garden for planting and growing produce in 2013. 

AmeriCorps is a national service organization that coordinates volunteer opportunities, partnerships with nonprofit organizations and adults of all ages. The project at the NHCO garden is one of several planned around Western Pennsylvania to observe National AmeriCorps Week from March 9-17, in which the organization recognizes its members and alumni.

The two-year-old organic garden in Bellevue provides fresh produce and fruit for food pantries operated by NHCO to serve residents of North Hills communities, including Ross Township and West View. In its first year of operation in 2011, the garden produced more than 3,000 pounds of food with help from community volunteers.

The gardening event Saturday involves members of the county's Department of Human Services KEYS group. KEYS is an acronym for Knowledge to Empower Youth to Success.

Since 1995, KEYS Service Corps group members have tutored, mentored and helped at-rish youth to design and carry out community service projects to benefit their communities, county officials said in a statement.

More than 1,600 KEYS members have devoted more than a million hours to work with thousands of youth. They also have recruited 12,030 volunteers who have provided more than 112,371 hours of volunteer service, county officials said.

Also through the week, KEYS members will tend trees on Pittsburgh's South Side and will assist with other service projects to clean up and beautify areas of the North Side and Braddock.

For more information about volunteering or donating to the NHCO garden, click here or call 412-307-0069.