For my community service project, I decided to help out Alamosa’s local farmers’ market. Every Saturday throughout the summer, local vendors and farmers bring their booths out to make a small profit. It really helps the local community and brings a lot of people out of their homes to shop locally. For a couple of these farmers’ markets during the summer, I helped with the kids’ activity booth. Also known as “Play with Your Food Activity,” different businesses would come and set up their own activities for every Saturday.
Along with my Ogallala Commons internship this summer, I also helped with a local museum. This community service project was their idea to really get kids involved in their local history. Through this outreach program in the farmers market, we hope to get kids interested in history at a young age so they may be a fan of it and get involved with their community’s heritage in the future.
My colleague and I for one week made paint bubbles, so the kids could paint their own pictures by blowing bubbles mixed with food coloring. Another time, I brought a cooler filled with full size candy bars as a prize for a scavenger hunt we created to engage the children to explore the farmer’s market and it’s surroundings. As shown in one of the photos, while their parent shops, the kids look for something red or a food made from an animal. The kids seemed to love getting a full size candy bar as a prize.
Overall, farmers’ markets can be a huge benefit to a local community. Buying from local vendors, especially one as small as Alamosa, can really help an area economically and socially. Going hand in hand with my aid in the Ogallala Commons internship, I believe that my service to the community, especially with the children of Alamosa, was beneficial to me and my understanding of the town as well as helping those around me.
