This being the last Friday of the month, it’s time for promoting positive news via We Are the World Blogfest. I like to think of us as ambassadors highlighting little pockets of love and light for others to celebrate as well.
The special lead co-hosts for this month are: Simon Falk, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Inderpreet Uppal, Sylvia Stein, Damyanti Biswas. You can participate by signing up here, and I encourage you to check out all the other bloggers participating as well.
This month I’ve blogged daily creating an abecedarium on all manner of topics related to flora, and keeping with that theme, this month I wanted to highlight some gardening good news.
But first some facts. According to the Feeding America, 42 million people struggle with hunger in the United States, including 13 million children and 5.4 million seniors. Many millions of people! Even more horrendous, more than half a million people in the United States are homeless. The homeless numbers are official statistics, and frankly I’m inclined to believe they are underreported. These figures are staggering; the issues are heart-breaking; and the need for solutions is great.
So today I want to introduce you to The Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, California.
The Homeless Garden Project provides job training, transitional employment and support services to people who are homeless. Their vibrant education and volunteer program for the broad community blends formal, experiential and service-learning. They share 5,000 lbs of produce with the most vulnerable members of their community.
Here’s a link to their website, and while there is much to explore, and hopefully you’ll be inspired to do so, I’m heading you to their page with their mission statement.
This video offers a wider view of what the program is about:
This is not a new program, the first seeds of future iterations began in 1990. But it is a model program, an example of what IS possible, and a point of light in this world.
Above all I believe in these wise words from Micheal Pollan:
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.”
May we all find ways to be a blessing to our planet and her inhabitants.
P.S. On a bit of an unrelated, and yet not, note. While I have absolutely no wish to disrespect the desires of the #WATWB hosts, and I’m happy to include the project banner at the top of my post, I am not adding the #WATWB badge to my sidebar. My blog is part of my business website and in keeping the energetic integrity of my work and my site, I do not post badges.
I get a little gentle pushback about this each month which is perfectly fine and I’m not complaining about it. I’m simply posting my position as I know the co-hosts like to try to visit the participating blogs, and this might save them from the extra work of having to contact me. I’m all for lessening drudge tasks and making more time for loving each other and world up.
Hi Deborah – what a wonderful idea they’ve established in Santa Cruz … and it’s ongoing and offers so much for a two year period … then I’m sure volunteering is always there. So good to see the video and hear more … cheers Hilary
This really does seem like a wonderful initiative to me Hilary – offering so much good and win-win for everyone.
This gardening program is so smart. I like that it has a track record that shows it’s a success. I find that my little patio pot veggie garden gives me, beyond some tasty vegetables, a bit of unexpected joy, so this project makes perfect sense to me. Good #WATWB story. Thanks for sharing it.
I agree with you Ally about the “unexpected” joy gardening provides – I experience that myself as well. And perhaps that’s a secret ingredient contributing to the success of the Homeless Garden project as well. May joy abound for all of us, especially delighting us in unexpected ways.
Thanks for sharing this, Deborah! I live just a few hours away from Santa Cruz and had never heard of this. I really don’t blame you for not wanting to clutter your page with badges. It is a beautiful site and the fact that you include it at the top of your post should be sufficient. Happy Friday to you!
Thanks for the kind words Janet. Perhaps some day you can make a trip to Santa Cruz – maybe for a afternoon of volunteering or to purchase some of their produce or flowers. I imagine it would be fabulous.
Fantastic initiative! I know of a few similar programs and they really do work. Thanks so much for sharing this! #WATWB Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
I’m not sure what it is, but there IS something magical about gardening. The co-creation with nature to grow something delicious just alters everything.
I appreciate you stopping by Belinda, and wish you a wonderful weekend as well.
Wow, another wonderful project! #Humanity is all around us! 🙂
I agree Debby. It’s great to be able share these peeks into the goodness that surrounds us. WATWB is a dose of feel-good energy every month isn’t it?!
Great program! I especially like the parts about no toxic chemicals and sharing meals together.
Yes, there are so many benefits involved in the program – it seems like such a big win-win to me.
What a wonderful project, Deborah. The figures you quote about hunger and homelessness in the US are just terrible. It is hard to believe that in a country so rich, there are so many poor and hungry. I like the statement in the video that says something like you can’t tell who anyone is, everyone is together, there is no “other”. What a wonderful goal.
The statistics are mind-boggling and heart-breaking aren’t they, and such a fundamental call for the need for action.
I love that part as well Norah – when we start seeing each other in our shared humanity we’ve made a huge step out of separation consciousness into unity. And we certainly need so much more of that!
Great initiative there. I’m always pleased to hear about people finding alternatives to the iniquitous system the food industry has spread across the world.
It IS satisfying on so many levels isn’t Curtis? I loved that you chose to write about one of my favorite food groups as well this month – chocolate. Here’s to an abundance of good food and delicious treats for everyone.
Providing an employment and food while learning a skill, that is really a good initiative. Many more such programs should be done, hope they keep spreading the joy.
Thank you so much! In Darkness, Be Light. Team #WATWB
*Inderpreet/EloquentArticulation*
It really is a brilliant initiative isn’t it? And one that seems like it could easily be adapted widely.
Thanks for the work you do as part of the WATWB team – and thanks for visiting!
What a truly life-giving initiative with these gardens, Deborah. Thanks for sharing Simon’s Still Stanza #WATWB
I think that says it perfectly Simon. And thanks for stopping by and for being a co-host of WATWB – it’s greatly appreciated.
Gardening is a healing, and hopeful, activity. So glad it’s working in this community to also help the homeless.
I don’t have the badge on my sidebar, either, but I do include it in the #WATWB post.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Mary at Play off the Page
Healing and hopeful – I think those are perfect descriptions Mary.