Urban gardener plants seeds of healthy eating

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On a crisp November morning, Riverdale resident Tony Hillery stood outside Harlem Grown’s main urban farm on West 134th Street. The farm was winding down for the winter months, but the garden was still full of greens like kale and chard and its major composting operation was in full swing.

As neighbors walked by the farm, they called out to say hello or good morning to Mr. Hillery. He knew every one of them.

How did the Riverdalian get to be so popular in this Harlem neighborhood? It all started five years ago, when his successful limousine business took a hit in the financial crisis. He had paid off his house, and his children were almost out of college.

“I had time, and I had to do something. I kept reading about schools in the inner city and I didn’t believe it was as bad as I was reading. Now, in full disclosure, my kids went to private school from kindergarten to college, so I was so disconnected from this. And like most of us, I was just unaware of the grips of poverty,” he said.

Mr. Hillery decided to go to Harlem, which he chose because of its close proximity to Riverdale.

After a few frustrating weeks working in education advocacy, he decided to pursue a different path: turning an abandoned community garden into a place for children to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

“We counted 53 fried chicken restaurants in a three-block radius of right here, 27 pharmacies and no supermarkets,” he said. “So we have this conversation on childhood obesity and childhood nutrition — a little easier said than done with those conditions.”

Mr. Hillery went to Home Depot and bought 400 seedlings for his 400 original students, and they planted them together.

“After school, they dragged their mothers over, pointing through the gate, ‘That’s my plant! No, not that one, this one!’ So when they started to grow, they ate it. And that’s what really got my attention. Because up here, the diet is horrible,” he said. “That’s when the light bulb went off. That is if they grow, they’ll own it, they’ll eat it.”

That was the beginning of Harlem Grown. According to Mr. Hillery, children served by the group all live at or below the poverty line and all receive food stamps. Eighty percent of them come from single-parent households and 30 percent are homeless.

Harlem Grown, Tony Hillery, urban farming, Harlem, poverty, Isabel Angell
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