For the 9th year in a row, students at John Marshall Metropolitan High School in East Garfield Park are crafting holiday wreaths to spread cheer and help raise funds for summer youth programs.
On Dec. 8, students gathered to create rings of branches, leaves, pinecones and ribbons. The wreaths are part of an initiative by One For One Chicago, a nonprofit that supports teens in Chicago neighborhoods with high rates of joblessness and violent crime. Every year, the organization partners with Lake Bluff-based Mariani Landscape and local first responders to host a wreath-making workshop for participating students, who learn how to work with plants while connecting with the community and spreading holiday cheer.
“It’s more than a workshop. It creates so many different layers of love,” Meghan Olson, founder and executive director of One For One Chicago, told Austin Weekly News. Her favorite part of the annual workshop is “the possibility of what happens when community comes together and follows through with what they say they’re going to do and being intentional about every aspect of something.”
This year, 16 students from Marshall High School attended the wreath-making workshop, many of whom are in Rebecca MacDonald’s horticulture class.
Last year was MacDonald’s first time participating in the workshop with One For One, when about a dozen of her students made planters instead of wreaths.
MacDonald said one of her student’s takeaways was that through the workshop, they got to interact with new people, like Marshall alumni who work for One For One (some in urban agriculture) and law enforcement personnel.
The event “bridges that gap that I think sometimes exists within the regular population,” MacDonald told Austin Weekly News. “I do think they pulled that community spirit from it, especially since the holidays are really about giving and making sure that people in your community are good.”
At the first wreath-making workshop in 2017, Olson said she heard students say they’d never worked with live greenery before. Year after year, she added, Marshall High School and its students kept expressing interest in the workshop.
“A lot of the time, it’s the first time they’re making a wreath and everybody has their own way to express their creativity. They’re just so proud,” Olson said of how she’s seen students appreciate the workshop. “I have heard from a lot of the participants that they kept it up for a long time because it is really good quality. The needles don’t fall off as much.”
Olson said many of the students keep their wreaths or give them as presents to family members. At this year’s workshop, there was also an activity where participants wrote acts of care or encouragement that made a difference in their lives on a tag, then attached it to their wreaths.
“I hope what they can take away from this is that there’s so many different ways to work with plants and plant life,” MacDonald said. She added that she wants her students to “have a good relationship with teachers in the natural world, think about how these things affect the people around them, and how they can use the skills that they have to be able to improve their communities and help support people in their communities.”
Summer job program
One For One started in 2007 as the Ferrer Foundation. Working at Chicago Public Schools, Olson launched the foundation to help children with incarcerated parents.
“I realized how many programs didn’t meet the kids where they were at,” said Olson, whose father was incarcerated. She said many resources were one-off workshops that didn’t follow up with children who participated, and the Ferrer Foundation aimed to provide more consistent support.
But as the foundation got feedback from the young people it helped, it shifted its focus to providing paid opportunities, internships and exposure to different career paths for students.
When students left the wreath making workshop on Dec. 8, they picked up an application for One For One’s summer job program.
Every year, One For One offers career exposure and paid internships. Participants visit and work at different locations and participate in workshops on life skills and career development.
Last summer, about five of MacDonald’s students were a part of One For One’s summer job program.
“I appreciate One For One for providing kids with jobs within the horticulture realm,” MacDonald said. “That’s not such an easy thing to find, especially on the West Side. It really gives kids an opportunity to pursue that career field if they want to.”
In past years, through One For One’s summer job program, students have done work for the likes of the Wildman BT event space, where this year’s workshop is held, and Mariani Landscape, which annually donates wreath-making materials.
“Mariani Landscape’s long-standing partnership with One for One reflects our shared commitment to improve lives and strengthen communities,” said Johannes Louwers, president of Mariani Landscape. “One for One’s unwavering mission to enrich the lives of youth continues to inspire us, and our collaboration on events throughout the year, including the holiday wreath workshop, serves as a strong reminder of what’s possible when shared vision and collective action lead the way.”
Some wreaths created on Dec. 8 were collected to be sold at One For One’s fundraiser the following day. Money raised will go back into One For One’s summer program, “making sure that we have paid opportunities for 15-to-23-year-olds,” Olson said.
