The Micah Corps was getting used to
being in with fluorescent lighting, but we certainly got some sunshine on
Tuesday, as we worked in the Big Garden right next to Sacred Heart Ministries!
We tugged at weeds, got a bit muddy, and enjoyed some good conversation with
Matt Freeman, the Big Garden coordinator from United Methodist Ministries (UMM).
Matt informed us that the Big Garden Project started out with a goal of
establishing 12 community gardens, but expanded to much bigger numbers, as
there are now 81 community gardens in Nebraska that attribute their start to
the Big Garden through UMM. UMM has a program in which a Big Garden must be
independent of them in 3 years, so that the community takes ownership of that
garden. What fantastic ministry! But, what is this ministry all about? Why do
we need community gardens?
Food
deserts, or areas where there is not access to affordable, healthy food items
(i.e. places where a convenience store is the only place to get food for the
family), are prevalent across Nebraska, especially in rural areas and
lower-income urban communities. Many of these communities have high percentages
of refugees. Nathan Morgan, director of UMM, filled the Micah Corps in on a
specific instance where a community garden impacted a refugee community in a
positive way:
There had been a shooting in the parking lot
of an apartment complex housing mostly Bhutanese refugees. The people in the
complex were fearful of leaving their homes, until the president of the
Bhutanese Refugee Association took the initiative and decided they could not go
on living like that, huddled inside their homes. He decided to start a
community garden. Soon after the garden was started, the people in the community
began to take pride in where they live, and violence and crime dwindled.
It’s amazing what taking pride in one’s
community can do, and how a community garden can assist in those feelings of
ownership. The vegetables produced in the gardens are great, and they feed
hungry people who do not have access to healthy food. But in reality, the gardens are not about vegetables, they are
about people and community.
Interested in volunteering at a Big
Garden, starting a Big Garden in your community, or even just learning more
about the Big Garden Project? Click on the following link: http://www.gardenbig.org/
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