Marcella Reddick set out to tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about the benevolence of the urban gardening program she started on the city’s South Side. Vilsack was in town for a town hall meeting at the Rainbow/PUSH Conv
Marcella Reddick set out to tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack about the benevolence of the urban gardening program she started on the city’s South Side. Vilsack was in town for a town hall meeting at the Rainbow/PUSH Convention in June.
Reddick got the ear of a couple of Vilsack’s assistants and is now headed to the White House to do some gardening with First Lady Michelle Obama and the first daughters, Sasha and Malia.
On Friday, Reddick and her youth will leave their garden at 10200 S. Parnell and board a bus headed for the nation’s capital as part of the Champions 4 Sustainable Change Tour, thanks to a plethora of devoted supporters and sponsors.
The Champions 4 Sustainable Change is a tour consisting of 35 students across six cities invoking on a weeklong itinerary hosted by the Department of Treasury. The activities planned include a visit to the Anacostia Community Museum, the United States Botanic Garden, the United States National Arboretum and an afternoon of gardening with the first lady in her personal garden that she created and maintains with her daughters and Washington D.C. Bancroft Elementary School students.
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In photo: Marcella Reddick, second from left, with some of her urban farming participants. Reddick’s garden is at 10200 S. Parnell.
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