An Earth Day Celebration in Syracuse's Southwest neighborhood brought the community together for a day of gardening. But as YNN's Erin Clarke tells us, the Citizens for Crime-Free Community Neighborhood's 19th Annual Earth Day Celebration and Cleanup was about more than tending the earth.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- They pruned, picked, raked and sprayed. All in preparation to plant a community garden at an Earth Day Celebration. The annual event was started by Ella Potter.
She's a fiesty 85-year-old Georgia peach who has brought a little southern hospitality to Syracuse.

"I thought it was something to show our neighbors that we appreciate each other. This is our neighborhood," said Potter.

Daughter Robin and Citizens for a Crime-Free Community help organize the celebration and cleanup. They say despite everyone's differences, this garden is a safe space.

"We can beautify our neighborhood. There doesn't have to be blight and crime. We can enhance and enrich our lives by becoming a better community," said Robin Potter-Butler.

Sprucing up this garden does more than make the neighborhood look beautiful, it also nourishes this community.

"A lot of the corner stores or the local grocery stores don't have the vegetables," said Potter-Butler

"There's some people in this community that are on food stamps and food stamps don't last the whole month," said volunteer, Sheila Miller.

Now, instead of wondering where the next meal will come from, there's a garden ripe for the picking virtually in these residents' backyard.

The community garden is maintained throughout the season by volunteers and the vegetables grown are there for anyone to pick.