Summer Garden Project at Espiritu Santo
An invitation from our friend in ministry, the Rev. Maggie Foote:
During the summer months at Espíritu Santo - Forest Park, many of the adults in the community participate in a Zumba exercise program on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7-8pm, and they usually bring their kids. As I was brainstorming ideas for how to engage the children during this time, a vision came to me of cleaning up our community garden space and creating a children’s garden “club” of sorts, where we teach kids a bit about gardening and where food comes from, as well as let them dig around, get messy, and learn to care for plants. We have a large garden space (picture above), and I would love to see it be put to good use growing produce to support our community as well as flowers to use on the altar for our worship services.
A project like this will take a lot of support from members and friends of our community, which is why I have reached out to you all! I am looking for volunteers and supporters for a variety of roles:
1.) Short term volunteering to help get the garden ready for the kids to use: building some raised beds, preparing the soil, weeding, etc.
2.) Regular volunteering throughout the summer months (June, July, August) on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (7-8pm) and having direct contact with the children of our community
3.) Occasional volunteering when you are available to join us on Tuesday and Thursday evenings
4.) Regular volunteering on your own time to help us maintain the garden (weeding, watering, harvesting, etc.)
5.) Financial Contributions
6.) Donating or lending tools and/or materials
My dream for this project is to create opportunities for the members of our community to build relationships with their neighbors in the Forest Park area and others from around the Episcopal Church in Southern Ohio, to empower the children of our community by teaching them how to take care of something and see the fruits (or vegetables!) of their efforts be realized, and to promote general health and wellness in our community by using some of the produce for our community meals, as well as sending some home with the families and volunteers.
Espíritu Santo is a very family friendly community, and if you have children of your own, they would be more than welcome to come and participate in the program while you are volunteering. We also have nursery care available for children too young to play in the garden.
Please use the following link to respond to a survey about your interest/availability for this project: Summer Garden Project Survey
I will contact you with more information based on your response to the survey.
Thanks so much, all, for your thoughtful consideration of this invitation to be a part of our community and offer your time to the children and families of Espíritu Santo, and please feel free to pass this email along to anyone else you think may be interested!
Here’s a link to our Facebook Page if you’d like to know more about our community.
In peace,
Maggie
The Rev. Maggie Foote
