VINES’ new Binghamton building offers flexibility, efficiency

BINGHAMTON — The organization Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, or VINES, has been operating in its newly constructed building for about a year and is pleased with the $1.8 million structure.

“We’ve been able to really increase the number of free workshops that we’re providing, particularly cooking workshops,” says Amelia LoDolce, director of VINES. “And the flexibility it’s given us … and the efficiency by being within walking distance to our farm has been really, really beneficial,” she says. The organization moved into the building in June 2024 and held a formal-opening event back in September. VINES works to create a “just and sustainable food system” by helping people grow their own food and get food grown by local family farms as well, says LoDolce, who spoke with CNYBJ in a phone interview on May 5. The organization is located at 157 Susquehanna St. in Binghamton. The VINES urban farm operates at 16 Tudor St. in Binghamton. “It’s so much easier for our youth to get here to the offices to deal with paperwork,” she says. VINES program offerings include the Grow Binghamton Youth Program. Prior to its new building, VINES operated from the basement of the United Presbyterian Church at 42 Chenango St. in downtown Binghamton. With its new facility, LoDolce wants to get more connected to the neighborhood, saying, “I’m looking forward to being able to better serve this immediate neighborhood by being here.”

Pursuing new building

It was back in 2019 when VINES determined it was outgrowing its space in the church. “We looked at our options and determined that we wanted to be withing walking distance of our urban farm and that we needed to have space for our youth to gather so that if we have bad weather, they could get out of the elements,” says LoDolce. “We knew we needed more than just space for offices for desks. We also needed some kind of programmatic space.” VINES didn’t find any existing building that fit its criteria. It considered renovation work, if need be, but ultimately decided to construct its own building and found a vacant property that would accommodate its project. W.L. Kline of Binghamton started the construction process with digging in May 2023, says LoDolce. Laura Lee Intscher of Secret Base Design of Vestal served as the designer on the project. LoDolce also tells CNYBJ that VINES’ new home is the first commercial straw-bale building in Northeast, as the organization wanted a sustainable-construction effort. It is also the first Net Zero Energy building in Binghamton, per the VINES website.

VINES operations

In working to create a “just and sustainable food system,” LoDolce says the nonprofit operates community gardens where people can rent a raised garden bed for a yearly fee and use what they grow for them and their families. “We have 22 gardens around the county … about 500 raised garden beds,” she says. VINES also operates a multi-farm, farm-share program where people can sign up and they get a box of produce every week during the growing season. And the organization delivers those to 14 distribution sites around Broome County. “We operate that program on a sliding scale fee so folks, based on income, can get up to 75 percent off their share,” says LoDolce. VINES has eight employees, including LoDolce, and previously had the services of three AmeriCorps members until the federal government made cuts to the program in late April, she notes. “As a volunteer, [LoDolce] began working with VINES in 2007 as a founding board member and the coordinator of the Liberty Street Community Garden,” per her website biography. She was named director in February 2016.