Even before accepting the first group of youth there are a few things to be done in preparation. Plans to erect a green house and build a new tiered fence in the front yard among other things. The green house will allow seeds to sprout in a protected environment rather than buying the more expensive young plans from a garden center.
One of the first projects will be to remove the grass and level the front yard but the retaining wall must be in place before this work can be done. This wall might be molded concrete that will look like logs and planks.
With a product such as Composimold a fence from concrete that looks like wood could be made. Since the building of this fence is to be one of the first steps, the final plans for how it should look and function has high priority.
Rock Soup needs to be a sub program of a larger non profit organization so that it can raise local money rather than relying on the state or federal government for grants. In these times of uncertainty state and federal money may not always be available for charitable community service. Indeed one of the primary goals is to help the local communities survive and prosper in hard times.
By obtaining non profit status Rock Soup will be able to accept tax free donations. The key to giving youth a sense of purpose is for them to be paid for work as well as learning valuable skills that they can use through out their lives. So far the name with the most support is Greener Way Associates, this web site will remain as Rock Soup for the time being, and Rock Soup will also refer to the Youth Garden Pilot Program.