• Article Photo. Laura Chechette and other Oak 7 AmeriCorps team moves a post at Community Youth Garden Monday.
    Laura Chechette and other Oak 7 AmeriCorps team moves a post at Community Youth Garden Monday.
  • Article Photo. The clothesline post will be converted into a place to hang birdhouses in Community Youth Garden.
    The clothesline post will be converted into a place to hang birdhouses in Community Youth Garden.
  • Article Photo. Dave Elwood and Will Morris dig the hole as the Oak 7 ladies roll the post.
    Dave Elwood and Will Morris dig the hole as the Oak 7 ladies roll the post.
  • Article Photo. AmeriCorps Oak 7 members work at the new Youth Garden in Vinton Monday.
    AmeriCorps Oak 7 members work at the new Youth Garden in Vinton Monday.
  • Article Photo. Oak 7 member Emily Kentta works with VPRD employee Brian Elwick on Community Youth Garden.
    Oak 7 member Emily Kentta works with VPRD employee Brian Elwick on Community Youth Garden.
  • Article Photo. With the help of many donors and volunteers, the Community Youth Garden is taking shape.
    With the help of many donors and volunteers, the Community Youth Garden is taking shape.
  • Article Photo. Oak 7 members place a post that will be used for birdhouses in the new community garden in Vinton.
    Oak 7 members place a post that will be used for birdhouses in the new community garden in Vinton.
  • Article Photo. These Oak 7 women were determined to move the post themselves...
    These Oak 7 women were determined to move the post themselves...
  • Article Photo. ...and they succeeded in getting it to its new location.
    ...and they succeeded in getting it to its new location.
  • Article Photo. Soon the post set by Oak 7 members will be a place to hang birdhouses in community garden.
    Soon the post set by Oak 7 members will be a place to hang birdhouses in community garden.

Just under two years ago, the area was flooded, covered with a few feet of muddy, messy waters that destroyed dozens of homes in Vinton. 

But now, the corner of Second Street and Fourth Avenue is turning into a Community Youth Garden. The Vinton Parks and Recreation Department, the Benton County Extension and 4-H programs, and a variety of local donors and volunteers are turning the property into a place of beauty. 

A variety of plants and flowers is growing again at the Garden. Hostas have been moved into the shaded area, and are thriving. A small sweet corn field has been plowed and soon will be planted. 

On Monday, members of the AmeriCorps NCCC Oak 7 team took a break from another flood-related project — turning a flooded garage into a riverside pavilion — to help with the garden. 

Team Leader Lindsay Ward and her grey-shirted team members helped build elevated garden beds. Several of them also moved a heavy clothesline post, still in its large concrete base, to a new hole, where the post will become a place to hang birdhouses. 

The members of Oak 7 include Laura Chechette, Kara Hartnett, Judie Murphy Katya Muller, Will Morris and Dave Elwood. Oak 7 recently returned from a project in Mobile, Alabama, where they helped with a Habitat for Humanity house project. 

The Oak 7 members are nearing the end of their service; graduation for the second class of AmeriCorps members at the North Central Region Campus in Vinton is set for Aug. 5.