This past Wednesday, Sheller Farms in Noblesville played host to over 200 inner-city children from Indianapolis. As part of the Summer Academy program organized by 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, Inc., kids had the opportunity to spend a day on the farm.
While Noblesville is just up the road from Indianapolis, for many kids farm life is a foreign idea.
Aaron Sheller, co-owner of Sheller Farms, is a seventh-generation farmer. He told The Reporter it was a great day from his perspective.
“The objective of our event was to bring agriculture, its importance and opportunities to the doorstep of these future leaders,” Sheller said. “I feel we accomplished that by putting industry leaders in their respective fields in front of them.
According to Sheller, learning stations were set up with different volunteers to teach the youth about farming. Those stations included fertilizer, urban gardening, conservation and renewable energy, 4-H and FFA, harvesting, corn, soybeans and livestock. Each station touched on many topics and had multiple people and organizations involved in educating these kids.
Sheller wanted to note this event was sponsored by several businesses and individuals, without whom this learning opportunity could not have happened. Financial contributors included Regions Bank, Hamilton County Farm Bureau, Ben Lehman, Doug Shafer, BASF, Sheller Farms and Jay Oliver.
Those who contributed volunteers and other resources included Regions Bank, Sheller Farms, Lehman Co. CPAs, Agro Liquid, Becks Hybrids, BASF, Ag Technologies Inc., Department of Natural Resources, Hamilton County 4-H, Purdue University Extension Hamilton County, Crop Insurance Specialists, Sheller Insurance Solutions, Providence Agriculture and Hamilton Heights FFA.
Reporter photo by Perry Williams
Although it was a nice thought to feature this piece in the Reporter, I find it quite concerning that the article references the attendees as “inner-city children.” The majority of the children participating in the Summer Academy program have never seen the “inner city”. So to categorize them as as “inner city children” is simply inaccurate.
A group of black and brown children must be inner city youth, right? I would love to know what research was done and what demographic information was collected for this piece. This program serves students from MANY walks of life! The households these children come from are educated, hard-working, many with two-parents and not residing in the “inner city”! Please fact check before writing and posting such an article! The article would have otherwise been great and served as an opportunity to shed light on two great organizations providing learning opportunities for children.
As a parent of three of the children that attended the field trip to Sheller Farms, it’s hard not to be offended by the way you’ve chosen to identify these kids. Although there is nothing wrong with living in the inner city, the phrase “inner city youth” is what society uses to describe poor and troubled children. You have no idea where these kids are from, where they currently reside, or what lifestyle they are accustomed to. What was your point of labeling all 200+ kids as “inner city youth”? Why couldn’t you have just left it as “Indy kids”, as the title states? Or better yet, why not just refer to them as kids or children? Why would you ASSume that all of these kids live in Indy? Does it make your story better?