WAGRAM — Abigail Canela, a freshman at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, first visited the former Scotland Correctional Facility last fall to view a pumpkin harvest.
Canela and a handful of her fellow UNCP students were at the site of old prison this weekend to help grow awareness about GrowingChange, the nonprofit dedicated to helping at-risk youth.
The organization recruits troubled youth to “flip” old Wagram prison into place where participants can learn about sustainable farming, build a community garden and distribute produce to needy families.
“I really like the mission behind the project to divert juveniles from entering the system and that we’re going to re-purpose the site into something that will benefit the community,” said Canela, a member of UNCP’s Greener Coalition’Club.
The students in the club have been to the discarded prison three times since the start of the spring semester to assist with repairs at the facility, about mile south of Wagram. The group spent part of Saturday putting up a pin that will eventually hold sheep.
Club members are expected to return to the facility in the fall.
The mission of Greener Coalition is to promote preservation and conservation of the environment at UNCP and the surrounding community. The goal is to educate and inform students about environmental issues and advocate for local and real food on campus.
The Greener Coalition is supported by the Office of Sustainability at UNCP to implement a plan of action to reduce energy usage on campus, in order to preserve natural and environmental resources.
GrowingChange is also participating in an internship project through UNCP where students are matched to different community organizations for the summers for a paid internship.
“We see it being a long term partnership,” said Debbie Hanmer, the board chair for GrowingChange, of the relationship to UNCP.
The GrowingChange project was founded in 2011 by Noran Sanford and works with young people limited by criminal charges in North Carolina where 16-year-olds are prosecuted as adults.
“Working with troubled youth as a therapist that it became evident to me that we were losing young folks to the correctional system,” Sanford said. “The same kind of youth that if we had more resources that we could get them out of the juvenile system, keep them out of the adult prison system, and welcome them back to the community as leaders.”
The former prison work camp where prisoners were responsible for the construction of sections of the road in North Carolina and operated from 1930-2001 and has sat vacant until GrowingChange came along.
The prison will be used as a model for other decommissioned prisons to give them use to help the community. In a 50 mile radius from the Wagram prison, there are 6 decommissioned prisons, 22 in the state, and over 300 nation wide.
According to Sanford the facility providing employment and educational services for returning veterans and recreational opportunities for the surrounding community, all while helping youth stay out of prison.
GrowingChanges hopes to have the pumpkin patch open again in the fall and plan on having the Haunted Jail Tour as well.
For those who wish to volunteer or for information on the project visit growingchange.org.