Serenity Urban Wellness is a nonprofit organization that has existed for three years. Our purpose is to create healthier wellness awareness in the community by assisting them in developing healthy habits in all areas of life. To learn the importance of sustainability, self-love, accountability for being more intentional in our health, gardening, the importance of pollinators in our food system, incorporating the importance of stretching the body through yoga, mindfulness, life skills, and how it contributes to a healthy you. We have partnered with Turtle Island G.K. to assist with our purpose. 

 

Turtle Island G.K. is in the South End Community and is designated a food desert with limited access to healthy and affordable food options. 

Over the last few years, we have established a farm stand at Turtle Island G.K. With the assistance of other non-profits like Urban Patchwork, The Village Place, community gardens, backyard gardeners, and beekeepers, the farm stands have allowed us to increase access to fresh produce, raw honey, and sustainability classes in our community. 

 

Turtle Island G.K. has allowed us to bring the community together significantly. We hold gardening classes to show that you don’t have to have a big backyard to grow your own food. We grow many of our non-chemical vegetables in pots. Teaching the importance of gardening allowed us to introduce the importance of pollinators in our food system, that pollinators must pollinate every 3rd bite we take. To get the community more involved in the garden and learn about different cultural backgrounds, The local beekeepers have held Honey Harvests at Turtle Island G.K., headed by Calm and Confidence. During the summer, we hold free bee yoga in the garden and incorporate going into the beehive after the yoga session. This allows us to have hands-on and visual sessions teaching about honeybees and the importance of consuming raw honey for our bodies. Many people don’t know that raw honey is essential, but other things that the bees produce have medicinal benefits.  

 

Our goal is to teach the community the importance of wellness and sustainability. Our aim is to assist them to take some control of their overall health and well-being. We notice that returning to gardening, homesteading, and our ancestor's way was a start to reeducation. Since the vegetables grown don’t have any preservatives added and they produce quickly, we started teaching how to sustain the overflow of produce by preserving them. This allowed us to be more culturally diverse and incorporate a variety of other healthier produce options that have been limited to different communities. We jumped into holding canning and preserving, cooking, baking fresh bread with a sourdough starter, composting, and other sustainable classes. 

 

We know hands-on demonstration classes will give the community more awareness of healthy options and assistance. We aim to inform them that healthier family resources are available in the community. To learn the importance of a healthy you. Our desire is to let the community know that our mental health, oral health, and body shouldn’t always be in survival mode but also thrive in harmony. To understand, you're on someone's menu if you are not at the table.