Every Friday, a small group of youth from Roy Maas Youth Alternatives’ Oaks Academy Campus in Boerne travels by bus to the nearby Herff Farm at the Cibolo Center for Conservation. There, the students tend a large garden where they grow food from seed to harvest while they enjoy healing time in nature.
It’s called the Deep Roots program, and it’s a cooperative effort between the two nonprofits, which share the distinction of having each received two grants from Impact San Antonio over the years.
Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, which provides services to abused, neglected and at-risk youth, received High Impact Grants in 2014 and 2018, the most recent to renovate the facility’s kitchen.
The Cibolo Center for Conservation, formerly known as the Cibolo Nature Center & Farm, received Support Grants in 2016 and 2020. The most recent grant is being used to upgrade the main trail at the Cibolo Nature Center.
Both agencies see Deep Roots, now in its second year, as a way to introduce nature and gardening to young people who have had little to no access to natural spaces in their lives. With weekly hands-on time in the garden, the program focuses on providing education, skill building and emotional healing to youth who have experienced extreme abuse and neglect.
The students do everything in the garden — prepare the soil; sow the seeds; harvest the loofahs, herbs and vegetables; make soaps and teas; and sell all of their products at the farmers market at the Herff Farm.
“We have about 100 kids a year come out, about 10 kids per week. Who comes out each week varies,” said Leigh Owen, vice president of development for the Cibolo Center. “The program is used as a behavioral incentive for the kids. They look forward to coming and tailor their behavior accordingly.
“You see the difference in the kids when they step into the garden. There’s a sense of freedom for them. They can run free, grow delicious food, look at wildlife. It’s really therapeutic and transformative for the kids.”
“Our residents have been doing things with the Cibolo Center for years,” said Katie Stroup, volunteer and events manager for Roy Maas Youth Alternatives. “They have let our kids go to summer camps, spring break camps, and Deep Roots. Kids who are interested in plants enjoy working in the garden.
“It’s wonderful for them to have a place to go outdoors,” she added. “These kids have never experienced anything like that. They’ve never even hiked. Getting out of their cabin home is great.”
The students who participate in Deep Roots are middle school and high school age, Stroup said, while the kids who attend the summer camps are 12 and younger. RMYA kids have been attending camps at the Cibolo Center for more than 10 years, Owen noted. Registration for this summer’s camps, with social distancing rules in place, is open; go to https://cibolo.org/programs/summer-camps.
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