On September 23, 2020, Daily Acts hosted its first in-person event since the COVID-19 pandemic began: a volunteer workday at Pocket Park with staff from World Centric, hosted by Senior Programs Coordinator Liz Platte-Bermeo and Programs Coordinator Connor DeVane. Daily Acts’ Operations Coordinator Sarah Tatum oversaw COVID protocols, including sanitation of tools, temperature and wellness checks, and more. Liz, Connor and Sarah welcomed the group to the Pocket Park food forest garden, which was both quite weedy after months of shelter-in-place and also robust and full of fruit. As the group gathered in the shade of the walnut tree, some volunteers commented on the number of pomegranates and persimmons fruiting on the trees. There was a common theme of gratitude for being outdoors, being in community and getting hands in the dirt. Liz and Connor led the group on a tour of the site, explaining various features, sharing its history, discussing the seasonal habits of plants in the garden, and demonstrating pruning techniques for plants in need of deadheading. Over the next hour and a half, volunteers pulled weeds and deadheaded shrubs while maintaining social distance of at least six feet –producing so much green waste it took two truckloads to compost.
