“Hooray! We’re goin’ gardening!” my teacher, Mrs. Green cheered happily.

It was my first time going gardening for a club exertion. This was my first time doing something in a club called Interact, the first time I’ve ever went gardening, and to be honest, I didn’t know anything about gardening. As we were on the bus, other kids on the bus were laughing, cracking jokes, and saying random things about gardening.

Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a community garden that was in a nice, serene, Phoenix neighborhood. Before we got started, this nice sweet old lady started to tell us about when the garden got started, what they grow, and how many volunteers come on the weekends. As we learned about this information, Mrs. Green was grinning cheerfully as she looked over us with quick glances. As we pulled weeds, even the soil, and working with the compost, in my mind, I thought about having my own garden in the backyard of my house.

While we were working, Mrs. Green was taking pictures of us. When it was 11:30, we had all of the tools put away and were walking towards the bus when another lady walked up to us making herself known with, “Thank you all so much for helping us out!” We all stopped and listened. As we gazed at her, she and Mrs. Green were holding a conversation as if they were long lost friends who found one another with the same hobby.

As I listened to them, something hit me like a ton of bricks: what I was doing, I was helping those in need.