WORCESTER, Mass. - Thousands of plants will soon go into the ground at school and community gardens throughout Worcester, courtesy of a group of volunteers working under the hot sun with the Regional Environmental Council.

A truck carrying roughly ten thousand seedlings arrived at the REC’s YouthGROW Farm Tuesday morning, which marked a new record. Volunteers helped bring them inside, and they’ll soon be distributed to roughly 70 gardens at schools and the REC’s UGROW program, a network of free community gardens.

Noel Allen, community gardens coordinator, said she’s grateful for the amount of people who took interest in helping out on a busy delivery day.

“It’s a bit of legwork to manage, but honestly, we’ve had more volunteers come out this year,” Allen said. “I think the excitement around local food and around building community is increasing, so people want to help out. And it’s just really exciting to know that folks want and need more plants in their gardens.”

As the patchwork of peppers, onions and kale help school and community gardens help provide students and neighborhoods with local produce, the gardens also offer a relaxing environment and a deeper appreciation for hands-on work.

“From a bird's eye view, being outdoors is really helpful to people,” Allen said. “A lot of people get away from desk jobs or jobs where they're inside, and just knowing that they're contributing to the local food movement and the local Worcester community, I think is really exciting for people.”

Local volunteer Adam Sanders said when he was growing up in Worcester, there were far fewer people thinking about the benefits of local gardening on a larger scale. He’s been enjoying time spent with fellow volunteers focused on that common goal.

“This is way better than sitting in my office all day,” Sanders said. “I think it's a fantastic thing for people to have access to fresh vegetables that they can just go down and pick. That is so convenient, even easier than go into a store and getting something that's unhealthy for them.”

As the seedlings make their way to gardens, local students are also pitching in at the REC’s YouthGROW farm.

Tom Trepanier, farm coordinator, said in the coming weeks they’ll be planting kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce and arugula.