Subject: FALLing in Love With This Community

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FRESH News
September 2021
Happy Fall, Friends!

I first volunteered with FRESH New London out at the Waterford Country School, in what seems like a lifetime ago. Spending AT LEAST as much time tending to my toddlers as actually getting garden chores done, I fell in love with everything the organization was doing and all it hoped to accomplish. And this month, as I hit my 1-year anniversary of officially working for FRESH, I've fallen in love with this organization, our beautiful city, and our astounding community all over again.

There are three members of our community I'd like to introduce you to this month; each brilliant, talented, and unique, and I have all the confidence in the world that you'll think of them as highly as I do.

Artists Perla Vazquez and Roodley Merilo both came to FRESH through our youth program, have honed their talents through the years, and have each created a stunning mural for our gardens. We'll be holding a hang-the-art party for Roodley's work at the McDonald St garden on Wednesday, 9/22, from 4:30 to 6:30, and an artist's reception on Friday, 9/24 (with food and drinks) at the garden from 6:00-7:30. Our reception for Perla, and the donors and benefactors of the Ledyard St garden, will be scheduled soon!

The third, and newest member of our community, is Chloe Nunez, a powerful, wise, kind teacher and soil restoration enthusiast, who has joined our organization as a food justice educator. Come out to volunteer days at the McDonald St. garden and meet her!

love,
Davana
Perla Vazquez, in collaboration with FRESH youth and artists/mentors Aly Maderson Quinlog and Diana Cortavarria, designed and executed a beautiful mural at our Ledyard St. garden. 
Perla's Artist Statement: For the Ledyard Street mural I made individual designs for each side. On side A, I included the logo and other things that represent FRESH. Side B continues around the corner of the shed giving the tree a 3D effect. On side B I decided to use the flag of different countries and more elements that represent FRESH. Side C does not have many elements, but it has many details. For this side I decided to use the national flowers of different countries to create the design. This side also includes a place where people can leave hand prints or messages for the community. The back side or side D is made from rain barrels, on these we created a rainbow as suggested by other young people at FRESH. We used stencils of elements like flowers, mushrooms, birds, and butterflies also suggested by them. To make the design of each wall of the mural I used everything that represented Us. I decided to include symbols from different places, not only from the United States, since in this program there are people from a diverse variety of places and now we are part of this community. I named this mural The Dream Mural because it was my dream to paint a mural. (photo credit, Aly Maderson Quinlog)
(photo credit above, Chloe Murphy)

Pictured above are some examples of Roodley Merilo's beautiful photography. The images are being made into large scale prints on tyvek for the fence at MacDonald Park. 

We'd like to give special thanks to Aly Maderson Quinlog at Magik Press for all their hard work, vision, and guidance in bringing both these young people's work to life! With their support, as well as Sustainable CT and all the grassroots donors, Perla and Roodley's work can be enjoyed by our whole community for years to come. Thank you so much!

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Interested in supporting FRESH with a tax-deductible donation? Of course you are!! Donate Here or follow this link: http://www.freshnewlondon.org/donate/
PO Box 285, New London, CT 06320, United States
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