The finished pavillion may look like this. Or not. But you get the idea.

At the end of this week, the El Buen Pasteur community garden, sponsored by the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University, will have a new, shaded pavilion – and a group of 31 new friends.

A church youth group, located two hours from the Winston-Salem, NC campus, arrived at the El Buen Pasteur community grounds Monday for a welcoming dinner with a long to-do list. Among other things, the middle and high school students planned to:  run a day camp, work all Campus Kitchen cooking and delivery shifts, and complete a large, wood pavilion to stand near the garden.

“It’s a very clear need and it’s something that they can definitely do,” said Shelley Graves, Campus Kitchen coordinator. Graves organized the trip through her parents, who are both pastors at the church.

According to Graves, the church will bring along some experienced contractors, in addition to the youth group, which has done a good deal of disaster relief and construction-based service trips. Unfortunately, most of those trips have become pretty expensive.

“This will allow them to do service affordably,” says Graves. “We’re housing them on the Wake campus and we got a really good deal.” Aramark will provide a free dinner to the group on Wednesday.

Once completed, the pavilion will allow El Buen Pasteur, a Latino community services organization and CKWFU community partner, to organize additional programming, like nutrition education seminars. The shaded structure may also encourage local kids to do more weeding and tending.

“When they go out and harvest they could literally bring the harvest in and set it on the picnic table and divide it amongst the families,” says Graves.

In the mornings, the church youth group will run a day camp for the younger children at El Buen Pasteur, teaching stewardship of the earth in addition to specifics like recycling and wildlife rescue. For the afternoon, many students will work in the crop garden enriching the soil and planting crops, in addition to the work on the pavilion.

If the structure isn’t finished at the end of the week, Graves says the church has weekend follow up visits lined up to pour the last of the concrete.

Graves also says the church will get something back:  many children from working class families will get the chance to spend time on a college campus and imagine what it might be like to attend an institution like Wake Forest University.

“I’m hoping this works out and we can make it a model for next year and slowly build it,” says Graves.

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