For more information about the September 18 event, contact Linda Lowe at llowe@temple.edu or Katie Endicott at katieendicott@gmail.com. Please note that RSVPs are required prior to the event.
Below is a press release written by Jim Duffy about the event. The original press release can be found here.
Temple University Ambler to hold John Paul Endicott Summer Internship Dedication
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| John Paul Endicott in the Ambler Campus Community Garden during National Public Gardens Day in May 2010. |
Dedicated community activist John Paul Endicott made a substantial impact on the Temple University Ambler Campus during his time here as a student.
John Paul’s life was cut tragically short in July 2010, but he and his unceasing work to help others lives on within the Ambler Campus Community Garden.
Family, friends, volunteers and a new summer intern diligently tend the Food Crops Garden within Ambler’s Community Garden in John Paul’s memory — their hard work provides fresh vegetables to local organizations such as the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard in Ambler Borough. Volunteers in the garden learn to build community, fellowship, teamwork and reconnect with the environment while helping others who greatly need and appreciate the assistance.
“John Paul always thought there was definitely a connection between communities and nature and wanted to do whatever he could to connect the two — that was what he wanted to dedicate his life to,” said John Paul’s wife, Shannon Ryan. “He wanted people to work together to make it a cleaner, safer world in whatever way they could, whether it was clearing out a vacant lot or creating a donation garden.”
On Sunday, September 18, Temple University Ambler, in association with the Endicott Family, will hold a special John Paul Endicott Summer Internship Dedication to mark the creation of the Endicott Summer Internship program and its first intern, Temple University Landscape Architecture major Joyce Benson. The program will begin at 3 p.m. in the Temple University Ambler Community Garden.
“After the Food Crops Garden was planted and tended to by our Horticulture students finishing their spring semester, the Endicott family quickly realized they could not manage the scope of this garden and their plans to support area communities without a little help,” said Linda Lowe, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs at Temple University Ambler. “The family decided that in order to ensure productive gardens, these areas would need to be watered, weeded and cultivated over the summer months if they were to succeed with their goal of honoring John Paul’s passion to feed the hungry through donations of fresh vegetables and herbs to area food banks.”
With generous donations by friends and family, the Endicotts set about establishing a summer internship program at Ambler “with the main purpose of overseeing the community food crops garden,” Lowe said.
To be eligible for the Endicott Summer Internship, students must be enrolled in Temple’s School of Environmental Design, majoring in horticulture or landscape architecture. The intern is selected by a committee composed of the Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, a full-time faculty member from the department, and the Horticulture staff supervisor. Applicants must submit an essay and two recommendations indicating their demonstrated interest in organic gardening and interest in helping the community through horticulture and food crops.
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| Family and friends volunteer in the Ambler Campus Community Garden. |
“The intern tends to the garden, makes weekly deliveries to the food cupboard and helps manage garden volunteers,” Lowe said. “It’s a wonderful hands-on experience for our students that also supports a wonderful cause and continues the important work that John Paul helped to begin here.”
The September 18 event — held a day prior to what would have been John Paul’s 33rd birthday — will include a welcome by Ambler Campus Executive Director William Parshall and presentations by Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture
Chair Dr. Mary Myers; Eva Monheim, Instructor in Landscape Architecture and Horticulture; Grace Chapman, Horticulture and Ambler Arboretum Supervisor; and summer intern Joyce Benson, who will talk about her experiences as the first Endicott intern.
The Endicott family will additionally provide information about how students, faculty, family, friends, and the public can become involved with the memorial garden. The program will also include music, a gardening demonstration, and refreshments.
“After John Paul’s passing, there has been so much support, it’s been incredible. I think it’s a huge testament to the friends and impact that he had,” said Katie Endicott, John Paul’s sister. “I think it is also a reinforcement of the sense of community — and the need for community — to work together, to be together, to make the world a better place.”
For more information about the September 18 event, contact Linda Lowe at llowe@temple.edu or Katie Endicott at katieendicott@gmail.com. Please note that RSVPs are required prior to the event.
For more information about Summer Internship, visit www.ambler.temple.edu/ac_services/scholarshipslah.htm.
For more information about the John Paul Endicott Memorial Fund, visit http://jpendicott.com/.
CONTACT: James Duffy, 267-468-8108, duffyj@temple.edu release available by e-mail
