PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When Ryan Harris started As I Plant This Seed nearly 10 years ago, he envisioned a safe haven for youth in Hunting Park, a village where they could get an education, family values, and mentorship they might otherwise miss out on.
“We like to use the word 'village' around here, because we understand that everybody doesn’t have the foundation of what a good family structure looks like," said Harris.
"We want to provide that, even if it’s on a small scale.”
Now, he says the Tree House is exactly that. It’s the official headquarters for the As I Plant This Seed non-profit, located at the corner of 9th and Luzerne streets.
It was a plan that was seven years and tens of thousands of fundraising dollars in the making. The community center is a vital resource for the area that struggles with interconnected issues like poverty, gun violence, and disinvestment.
“We’d like to believe that the things that we’re doing to set up our kids for the future, and the opportunities that we're presenting them, change is happening in our community right now," said Harris.
"We can combat and prevent those things from continuing to happen and break the cycle of poverty.”
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Harris, who was born and raised in North Philadelphia, doesn’t want his neighborhood defined by negativity.
He said there are also a lot of good things happening, like their mentorship program which has graduated five successful classes of students.
“They went on to do some amazing things," Harris added.
"Some want to go to college. Some are college graduates. Some are artists.”
Harris believes he and his organization are doing their part to uplift and empower the community.
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This coming Sunday, the Tree House will be filled with families getting the VIP holiday treatment, thanks to As I Plant This Seed and generous donors. Their goal is to serve 60 families in six hours.
“We pride ourselves when Christmas comes around. We just don’t make the kid a number and just throw a gift at them," Harris said.
"But you know, we like to be more impactful. So, we are going to serve 60 families in six hours. We’re going to have 10 families come up to the Tree House and have their own hour of being catered to. They’ll be walking in and picking out their gifts. They’ll be able to take some pictures with some local celebrities and some of the sponsors will be out to see the magic happen.”
Harris initially started out the organization with very little aid or support, but after persistence and spreading the word about As I Plant This Seed, donors in-kind from around and outside of the city have pitched in to help make the banquet a success, including $50,000 from Top Dog Law.
Harris hopes this will show other communities around the city that good things happen in Philadelphia when you put in the work for it.
“A lot of people like to believe, or like to say that the work is not getting done, or 'Where’s the organizations?' but I beg to differ," Harris said.
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"I know plenty of organizations that I’m connected to, people that are doing the work. They don’t care about clout, 'we care about the community,' so they don’t get the notoriety and recognition.”
He says his Christmas wish is that those efforts in his community will get the ample amount attention that issues like crime and gun violence have received.
“We talk about killing every day, but I’m sure that we can change the narratives with, you know, inviting stories that are uplifting and showing a different outlook on a community," added Harris.
"I think that we need to just do a lot more of that because there’s always something beautiful going on in the community.”
