Oct. 16, 2011

About 200 lawyers and their friends are going to prison this Saturday. One of those who will be teaching them all they need to know is a recently released inmate; another is still serving time.

All the volunteers on this work program at the Charlotte Correctional Center have been told they'll be getting their hands dirty.

Literally.

For this is Hands On Charlotte's Service Juris Day, and the lawyers and their friends will be weeding, planting and cleaning up what may be the largest urban garden in Charlotte.

Friendship Garden Coordinator Henry Owen says work at the site on Saturday has shifted somewhat with the state's decision to close the Correctional Center.

Indeed, with most of the inmates already released or transferred to other state prisons, there is a backlog of weeding and other maintenance among the fall produce planted earlier. After what the lawyers will do, a smaller group of volunteers will be able be maintain the site through the growing season, Owen said.

In addition to weeding, mulching, harvesting flower seed and cutting down the okra plants, the volunteers will also complete some projects that will be used in other Friendship Gardens. Example: Preparation of 10-gallon totes for collection of the harvest at gardens throughout the system, and assembly of worm bins that will put little red wigglers to work producing organic fertilizer for all the gardens.

Talks with state and prison officials are continuing on maintaining Friendship Gardens' access to the garden plot after the prison closes by the end of the year. In preparation for that possibility, volunteers will hook up rain barrels to existing irrigation systems so that the garden can be watered even if the prison's tap water becomes unavailable.

Two of the volunteer captains for Service Juris Day were part of the seven-inmate crew that volunteered last March to work weekday mornings to turn an old ball field into what became Friendship Trays' largest garden.

Those inmates' efforts created vegetables for the prison cafeteria and for Friendship trays meals. The farm work experience took some inmates back to lessons taught by their grandmothers about how to coax nutritious food out of the earth. For others, it was an experience that opened visions of what they might do upon release.

Service Juris Day is open to lawyers and nonlawyers alike. A $20 fee helps pay for materials plus "Hands On Charlotte's year-round programming that provides opportunities for thousands of volunteers to help out hundreds of local schools, neighborhoods and nonprofit agencies," according to the Hands On Charlotte website.

To register, go to this page, then log in by clicking a button on the top right of the page.