By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

November 4, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – A community-led initiative to plant a mini orchard in Sheffield Park is close to coming to fruition.

The Sheffield Neighborhood Association reached a cooperative agreement with the KCMO Parks and Recreation department earlier this week. Partners in the project also include Giving Grove, which will assist with the planting, and Kansas City University (KCU), which is making an in-kind donation of 10 trees for the initial orchard. Parks and Recreation contractors will be cutting the grass around the orchard, and will also be providing water.

Sheffield Neighborhood Association President Mark Morales credits KCU Executive Director of Community & Student Affairs Sara Selkirk with helping to get the mini orchard project off the ground. In addition to donating the trees for the planting, Selkirk has also made plans for 15 KCU volunteers (both students and staff) to assist with the efforts.

“Sara Selkirk is kind of lighting the fire under us,” said Morales.

The trees will be planted on Monday, November 7 beginning at 1:00 p.m., a day before the project is set to be officially green-lighted by the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The orchard project is scheduled to be the first item discussed by the Parks Board when it meets on Tuesday, November 8.

 Morales said that the project was given special permission to proceed ahead of the Parks Board discussion.

“We’re going to go ahead and plant before we go to Parks and Recreation for final approval,” said Morales. “They gave us the go-ahead to plant the trees, but we still have to go in front of the Parks Board on Tuesday.”

“The weather’s going to be changing, so we want to go ahead and get those trees into the ground,” Morales added.

According to Morales, the Sheffield Neighborhood Association will also look into pursuing additional grant funding for the park in the near future. He plans to reach out to conservation groups and community service organizations to help develop expansion plans for the mini orchard.

“Right there on that higher plateau of the park, that’s where the shelter house is, and that’s where the playground is,” said Morales. “That’s just 25% of the area of that higher plateau, and we’re going to keep expanding north.”