The leasing agreement with the contentious charity that has been running an urban farm on the Harrisburg School District’s property was terminated, but the financially troubled district has since overturned the decision.
Court-appointed receiver Lori Suski decided Tuesday evening that Wildheart Ministries will operate the Joshua Farm at 213 S. 18th St. for the rest of 2025.
The school board, which had intended to terminate the contract and either sell the land or find a new use for it, also supported the decision.
Wildheart Ministries, a nonprofit organization led by Tannon and Cristina Herman, rents Joshua Farm from the Harrisburg School District to offer district kids horticultural and agricultural programs.
According to Suski, the farm was abandoned for around 30 years until 2013, when it was leased to the nonprofit organization Joshua Group, which provides youth programming, and Wildheart Ministries was given permission to renovate it. In 2017, Wildheart subsequently leased the actual land.
Wildheart Ministries was chosen once more in 2023 after the district’s decision to lease the land was contested.
Due to its affiliation with Life Center, a megachurch in Harrisburg with strong ties to the Christian nationalism political movement, the group has come under scrutiny.Christian nationalist lecturers and leaders with connections to Christian dominionism and the New Apostolic Reformation movement have been welcomed by the church over the years. Last October, Elon Musk even called it home.
Even though the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits legislation that demonstrate respect to any religion, Christian nationalists maintain that America is a Christian country and ought to be governed according to Christian principles.
According to Suski, Wildheart Ministries was beset by community concerns before to the 2024 election. The new district superintendent, Dr. Benjamin Henry, brought up the issue with the school board on November 26.
Henry, who started his posting on November 1, misinterpreted Joshua Farms’ history and thought that Wildheart Ministries needed to be notified of a contract termination by November 30.
Henry stated that the land is not required for use in accordance with the school regulations and suggested ending the lease and getting it ready for sale. At that school board meeting, Suski ended the license arrangement with Wildheart Ministries with effect from December 31st, as the board largely agreed.
But after hearing from the public, Suski and Henry decided to extend the lease for an additional month, until January 31, so that she and Henry could look into other options.
Suski claims that hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money have been used to operate the farm at Wildheart, which has improved the neighborhood by producing and selling vegetables to residents in a food desert.
In order to guarantee that food-insecure families in Dauphin County have consistent access to food and supplies, Robin Perry-Smith and Denise Britton, who work for Penn State Extension, a partner of Wildheart Ministries, explained that benefit Tuesday evening.
According to Perry-Smith, part of it entails giving low-income Harrisburg residents, particularly those living in the Allison Hill and South Allison Hill neighborhoods, greater access to fresh, healthful, and reasonably priced food. According to Perry-Smith, at least 100 local households lack access to cars and are more than 0.5 miles from the closest grocery.
The Hill Farm, another name for the Joshua Farm used in Wildheart Ministries’ marketing materials, was visited by children during the six-week Penn State Extension Evolve & Empower summer camp.
Additionally, according to Perry-Smith, camp taught young people community stewardship through a leadership lesson every Tuesday that was subsequently applied to activities centered around agriculture. Along with learning about agricultural ideas, the camp’s students assisted in setting up 12 raised crop beds and two high tunnel greenhouses.
One of the 24 children who attended the camp stated, “I learned that to be a good leader, you cannot always win,” while others claimed to have gained more knowledge about crop cultivation.
Additionally, the Penn State Extension highlighted data provided by Wildheart Ministries regarding their community service initiatives based on its 2024 operations:
Perry-Smith also asked the school board to look at longer-term contracts with Wildheart Ministries since lease breaks cause crops to die and volunteers to have to start over. Since Wildheart Ministries has already shown interest in the land, she asked the school board to approve its purchase.
At a school board meeting on Dec. 10, Tannon Herman presented a petition with 1,000 signatures asking the board to permit Wildheart Ministries to remain on the Joshua Farm, and three residents supported the renewal of the lease.
During the public comment period on January 14, another individual expressed support for renegotiating the contract. Suski requested that the school board present a compelling argument for terminating the partnership with Wildheart Ministries.
During that mid-January school board meeting, Suski stated, “I am asking the Board to provide me with solid justifications for why this decision to terminate the license agreement should not be overturned.”
The Hill Farm is a Wildheart Ministries outreach located at the 200 block of South 18th Street.
18 December 2024.
[email protected] Dan [email protected] Dan Gleiter
According to the minutes of the meeting, board members did, in fact, endorse extending the lease, with recommendations for additional oversight, regular assessments of the farm’s educational value, and possible curriculum partnerships to increase its utilization.
Profiting from the district’s association with Wildheart Ministries, Suski persisted in opposing the association between Christian nationalism, the Hermans, the Life Center, Sean Feucht, a close friend of the Hermans and one of the nation’s most vocal Christian nationalists, and Wildheart Ministries.
There is no direct link between Wildheart and a [Christian nationalist goal] that we could identify. None of it has been observed by us. “It’s just kids learning farming,” Suski said, adding that she would take action if the district discovered proof of a negative situation.
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Jonathan Bergmueller