More than 130 Princeton University student-athletes, as well as a group of coaches and administrators, participated in the second "Weapons of Mass Construction" project in Trenton this past Sunday, helping to develop a community garden and continuing work begun last year on converting a vacant lot into a new village.

The athletes represented 16 of Princeton's 38 varsity teams. The event was coordinated by the Princeton Varsity Club in conjunction with Isles, Inc., an organization whose mission is "to foster more self-reliant families in healthy, sustainable communities."

The project was divided into two phases.

The first involved the creation of the 10,000-square foot garden to be used not only to help grow fresh vegetables but also as a way to help teach young men and women about the importance of farming and fresh food.

The garden was created right outside the doors of the Isles YouthBuild Institute. As part of the areas of focus at the school, Isles is developing a program called "YouthGrow" that teaches about the importance of urban agriculture and ensuring that there are community gardens and opportunities for the residents of Trenton to gain access to healthy food. Currently, there is only one remaining supermarket in Trenton, a city of 80,000 people, and it has become a great concern that people who do not have the means to get to the grocery store and purchase healthy food are relying on closer, cheaper and far less healthy options, also contributing to the problems with childhood obesity.
 
The Princeton student-athletes worked side-by-side with students/trainees who are part of the YouthBuild Institute, and the athletes were able to hear more about the experiences of these young people.

Among the jobs performed were removing rows of sod and raking the soil underneath, reverse planting the sod, moving soil and compost to cover the old sod and preparing raised beds for planting.
 
The four quadrants of the garden will receive another layer of compost and then be prepared for spring planting in conjunction with Earth Day. Fall planting will take place in a few months and is expected to produce food that will be harvested through early December.

The second project involved the chance to continue work on Mill One - a mostly vacant, circa 1895 former textile mill on the Trenton-Hamilton border along the Northeast Corridor rail line. The 6.5-acre site is being converted by Isles into a mixed use "green" village that will include offices for public interest and environmental organizations, a training facility for inner-city youth, homes, artists' studios and other uses.
 
For this piece of the project, the Princeton group helped to turn a large, non-functioning portion of the building into an open space that will be used for the Isles offices in the near future.