Watch Allied Grow!

Call me a cynic, but I tend to think $9M spent towards these types of efforts would have a much bigger impact on the neighborhood than the building the City/CDA built.

Watch Allied Grow

Allied residents have been exchanging their time and talents – helping out the Wellness Center, Neighborhood Assn., tutoring kids, giving rides, getting services for themselves like computer help, classes, etc. – through the Dane County TimeBank service exchange and community building program.

At “Maxine’s” TimeBank Store (2225 Allied Dr. lower lobby), named in memory of an Allied resident who was instrumental in getting the store going, neighbors are trading in the time they earn for clothes, toys, books, dishes and more.

TimeBank, along with the Allied Dunns Marsh Neighborhood Association, the Allied Wellness Center, Madison Apprenticeship Program (MAP), and the Dunns Marsh Neighborhood Association are working toward developing a social cooperative that will provide personal and community development activities and job skill building programs.

On Saturday May 22nd, from 12-3 there will be a cook out and activities outside the JFF office on Allied Drive, to highlight this effort. A container garden project is one of these activities.

Residents in each side of an apartment building interested in having a container for their building can sign up for one and choose whether they want to grow flowers, herbs or vegetables in their container. Each building will be responsible for caring for their plants.

There will also be four larger containers with vegetables at Head Start, Learning Center, Revival Ridge and Prairie Crossing where a portion of the vegetables will be donated to the food pantry or programs in the neighborhood. There is NO COST for your building’s container garden.

It is our hope that the residents in every building will work together to keep their building’s garden beautiful, which, in turn, will help make our community more beautiful and more healthy. These containers will be ready for folks to plant and decorate at the cook out, and then be distributed to the apartment buildings.

There will be a chance to learn why it is important to belong to a neighborhood association, what wellness activities are available to participate in at the Wellness Center, how TimeBank works, and how MAP can change your life! There will be a reading corner for kids, and good community fun to be had.

Sign up now for your building’s container and plants, and come to a cook out on Saturday May 22, 12-3pm at the JFF Center to get your plants and to learn more about the co-op idea. Come watch Allied grow!