Art Making in Hell’s Kitchen and Beyond
Leeza Richter
I. Service project
If It Grows Here, It Belongs Here
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Where does our food come from? Who grows it? Who gets access to fresh ingredients in a city? When is an ingredient truly local? What makes it belong here? To whom are these ingredients accessible? The Hell's Kitchen Farm Project (HKFP) is an urban rooftop farm located on 40th street in Hell’s Kitchen, managed and run completely by volunteers. The photos and videos in this service project document Bianca (Kay), a farming volunteer at the Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries HKFP. Kay spends nearly 3 days a week on the rooftop growing fresh food on a previously underutilized rooftop for distribution through a local food pantry, providing community nutritional education, and organizing a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Through the hands of volunteers, the HKFP has created a more food secure urban community through collaborative farming, education, and community initiatives.