Sweaty campers and adults came together during a hot afternoon on Friday for a dedication ceremony in honor of a new Kehillah vegetable garden that was created by the Jewish Community Center (JCC) day camps and Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JF &CS).

The garden is maintained by the JCC campers, and once the plants are fully grown, they will be donated to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Pantry, a program of JF &CS, to feed those less fortunate.

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The dedication ceremony took place in front of the Kehillah garden, which is located in the wooded area on the JCC camp grounds. Everyone gathered around the garden to sing songs and recite a few prayers.

The garden contains a variety of different vegetables, including tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, squash and zucchini and is sized at roughly 20 feet by 20 feet.

“The garden is in a place that gets really good sun,” said Joey Boime, director of Camp Kehillah at the JCC. “Hopefully, we can make it even bigger next year. It’s not really a means to an end, but a start to get bigger and better.”

He said the area used to be a place that campfires would take place, but now the garden will be incorporated into the camp every summer.

In addition to the campers helping out in the garden, they will also help out with other projects like re-stocking shelves at the food pantry or making snack packs.

Rabbi Daniel Plotkin, from B’nai El Congregation, presented a homemade mezuzah at the dedication that will be put on the fence of the garden, which contains special words and prayers written by the third through fifth grade campers.

“In the Torah, it says we’re supposed to give a corner of our field to people that are hungry,” said Plotkin. “But this camp is going further than that because we’re giving the whole field.”

The seeds for the garden were planted before the camp started, and a camp group has been there on a daily basis to water and take care of the plants.

Boime said some of the plants are expected to be fully grown by July 4, and will be taken directly over to the food pantry when they are.

“It’s a lot of work but it turned out to be a pretty good idea,” Boime said.

“Never before have we all teamed up together to do something this good,” Plotkin said.