© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Heard on Sundial: The Cruise Industry, Goodwill And Gardening During A Pandemic

Katie Lepri
/
WLRN
Our engagement editor Katie Lepri is growing a windowsill garden: leeks, green onions and aloe.

On this Monday, May 4, episode of Sundial:

Cruise industry woes. 

Hundreds of crew members on cruise ships remain out at sea, stuck in limbo for the past month. 

You turn to WLRN for reporting you can trust and stories that move our South Florida community forward. Your support makes it possible. Please donate now. Thank you.

Major cruise companies have refused to agree with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for disembarking staff. Over the weekend, Royal Carribean became the first to agree to the CDC guidelines.

“It’s not clear why," says Miami Herald reporter Taylor Dolven. "They said that in the spirit of doing everything as possible we are going to disembark now.” 

Meanwhile, Congress launched an investigation on Friday into the actions by Carnival Cruise lines on how it's dealt with the coronavirus. Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure are asking for all internal documents and communication related to COVID-19. Dolven joined host Luis Hernandez on Sundial to talk about the investigation and share what she has heard from people stuck at sea. 

Goodwill needs help.

Goodwill Industries of South Florida provides services to over 7,000 people with disabilities and other barriers to work, but the economic shutdown has forced the organization to furlough thousands of employees. 

“We don’t only provide vocational training, but we're actually able to employ them in these industries. We run a very large custodial team and we clean almost every federal local and state building,” says David Landsberg, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of South Florida. 

He joined Luis Hernandez on Sundial to talk about how they're adapting to social distancing requirements and how the non-profit depends on donations to keep open. 

Starting a garden during a pandemic.

In The New York Times last month, there was a piece about Victory Gardens, a huge movement after WWI and WWII in which people planted war gardens to help prevent food shortages.

Almost 40% of the food produced at that time came from Victory Gardens. During difficult times, do we have an innate need to garden? 

“At the beginning of our lockdown I started sprouting carrots, celery, garlic and onions. It’s been a slow process, but so satisfying. Each day my 4 year old daughter and I check our garden’s progress; it’s been a lovely experience,” says Jennifer Oliver Smith from Lake Worth. “My little one and I love the ritual of watering our plants each morning and seeing how they've grown.”

In Miami, Sundial reached out to a couple nurseries including Midtown Garden Center, who said that since coronavirus there's been an uptick in people buying seeds and potting soil. Adrian Hunsberger, former Urban Horticulture Agent and Entomologist at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences joined Sundial to talk about how to have a successful garden.