11/4/2008

in

Rapper 50 Cent and Bette Midler open community park in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y.

Satyra Riggins

According to *People Magazine*, rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and singer-actress-comedian Bette Midler have joined forces to help neighborhood children by opening a community garden in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The community park is called "The Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson Community Garden." It will be a living classroom to help neighborhood children learn how food grows.  
  
A community garden may seem like an unlikely project for the rapper more famously known for non-musical projects like his G-Unit clothing and athletic shoe lines as well as Vitamin Water energy drinks. However, Jackson is very supportive of the garden. "I wish I had this to come to when I was growing up around here," he said. "The opportunity to create this garden for the youth and the community is a great one." Jackson was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens.  
  
Midler approached Jackson because of his unsung work with his G-Unity Foundation. "I called and nagged him," Midler said, describing how she got Jackson involved with the garden. "His G-Unity Foundation gives a million dollars away every year in grants to non profits all over the city. . . . They're just brilliant."  
  
Midler founded the New York Restoration Project in 1995. This non-profit organization works to revitalize neglected neighborhood parks in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City.