Let Learning Bloom!

We miss many things about being together, but not the weeds in our school garden.

Mr. John Reddick, who is not only the founding board member of Harlem Link but our resident green thumb and "the biggest kid you know", has battled every year the pervasive and evasive morning glories that overgrow our garden. Last fall, it finally seemed under control, as our students repotted herbs and planted bulbs for the winter season.

But since the school building closed in March as so much did, we've missed the perennial blooms and then the summer harvest. Though its benches and beds have offered outdoor space as some of our students returned on-site, the garden is no longer used for bird watching or outdoor lessons on seedlings. Plans to commemorate the space to Mr. Reddick were understandably postponed this past year but to a time we have yet to know.

Yet through all of this, the garden remains cared for, the weeds managed.

Though he has has not missed a day being with students on Zoom, Mr. Reddick continues to tend the garden. In masks and gloves, he's returned with the afterschool team to pull and plant, and share pictures of what is growing to our students online. The garden would be ready for learning, even when, this October, we briefly welcomed back families to safely celebrate fall in the space.

Ashley and the After All team have the pleasure of working alongside Mr. Reddick every day in providing afterschool programming for all Harlem Link students -- whether on-campus or online -- and a love for nature continues to be a key part of that. Whether learning self-care through movement and storytelling, exploring possible futures in science and making, or creating visions of their shared community, our students join afterschool each day to be together and connect. We are a welcome and a virtual home for our students and staff, and will continue to be throughout whatever comes next.

However, as we prepare for to winterize the garden and settle in for a full return to remote learning, we need your support to help learning continue to bloom.

This Giving Tuesday, you can help tend to the love of learning by becoming a Friend of the Garden.

All proceeds donated to this page go directly to the After All afterschool program to provide immediate instruction and at-home resources for our students while we're remote, and to ensure we are ready for a warm welcome whenever we can return on-site and to our garden classroom.

Whether it's $1 for seeds or more for art supplies or books at home, your support helps bring a piece of Harlem Link home to all students.

We are grateful for the compassion, tenacity, and generosity of our families and community that have helped our Virtual School shine and our afterschool program grow.

Our garden stands as a representative space of this nurture that community members like our teachers, our families, Mr. Reddick, and you provide. Our school is empowered by your activism, advocacy, and involvement, and it’s thanks to you that we've been able to keep our community together, even while we're apart.

You prove Relationships Matter, and we’re asking for your continued support.

Click below for a sneak peak of what your contributions go directly to support.