The Stonehill College Farm is something that a lot of Stonehill Students tend to overlook. To the community outside the Stonehill bubble, the farm creates a persona that properly conveys the message that the college's mission statement preaches.

The farm was created in January 2011 and has been giving back to local communities ever since. Close to the Brockton area, the farm has been harvesting and distributing several kinds of fresh vegetables. Since its establishment, it has successfully grown 40,000 pounds (12,000 of which was in the first year alone) of food reaching over 3,000 family tables in need due to unfortunate circumstances. This is possible by the farm donating freshly grown foods to pantries and food deserts in the area. In addition to growing the food, they also use the composted food from Stonehill’s cafeteria in an effort to green and reuse this sometimes wasted resource to help themselves and the environment. Recycling nature’s materials back into the farm to produce healthy soil is one of the ways that composting is effective in the Stonehill community.

I want to talk about what this does for students by engaging them in the community in such an effective and satisfying way. The philosophy of giving back and the farm is something that in such a materialistic society can be overlooked. The students who take time out of their lives to do something truly selfless and give the necessity of food to the people who need it most are the “Lux Et Spes” (light and hope) that Stonehill embodies.

These students are an inspiration and even though Stonehill does pursue several other charitable events, something about the farm being a direct extension of the school that directly gives back to its local community that is in need makes it unique in its own way. Each individual can make a difference and this is a great place to start and join us as a community that actively fights for a cause.