Each week, the residents of BVT attend a variety of activities at the Boys & Girls Club of East Texas. The residents are offered an assortment of recreational and educational activities that promote social skills, life skills, and even vocational skills. Most recently, the Boys & Girls Club of East Texas partnered with Aquaponics and Earth, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping make orphanages and children’s homes self-sustaining in underdeveloped or poverty stricken communities and countries.

The Tyler Rotary Club also partnered with the organizations to provide monetary support to build a small version of the Aquaponics system at the Boys & Girls Main Club facility in Tyler. The system is used as a pilot project and has caught the eye of several local and regional groups interested in building a system of their own.

The system is designed with various tanks full of tilapia; the waste from the tilapia serves as a rich fertilizer for plants, vegetables, crops, etc. The system carries water from the fish tanks, up to the garden for irrigation, and eventually drains back into the water tank. Rather than soil, the plants are grown in small pebbles making the system virtually maintenance-free. If desired, the plants can be pulled out of the system and planted elsewhere to provide additional growth and space for even more vegetation. The system produces plants at an accelerated rate, due to the rich fertilizer produced by the fish.

Mitch Erwin, Executive Director of Camp in the City at the Boys & Girls Club of East Texas, was thrilled to have the Aquaponics System at their facility. Several people from around the area have come to visit this ‘one of a kind’ system. Erwin said that he hopes one day to expand the system to a whole new level and possibly even develop a “mini-market” in which BVT residents could become involved in. Mr. Erwin stated that it was his intention for the BVT residents to take an active role in the system and to assist in the development and management of the growing and selling of crops.

For additional information regarding the Aquaponics System, you may contact Mitch at the Boys & Girls Club of East Texas.