The partners in a new community garden in Conway see the project as an opportunity to grow food, as well as relationships.
Phillip Fletcher of Conway, founder of the nonprofit Christian organization City of Hope Outreach, said CoHO was awarded a $6,000 grant from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). CoHO partnered with First Presbyterian Church, 2400 Prince St. in Conway, where the new raised-bed garden was created.
“We kicked it off on Palm Sunday weekend,” Fletcher said. “We planted seeds and soil that Saturday, and that Sunday we had a big gathering — an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and we brought all the kids from the three communities [CoHO] serves together with the Presbyterian kids. We had a meal together. We had a blessing of the gardens as well.”
The grant will also be used to improve the gardens in the three areas CoHO serves in Conway: Oakwood and Brookside mobile home parks and the South Ash neighborhood.
“We’ll be sharing workdays,” Fletcher said. Kids from the neighborhoods CoHO serves will come work in the garden at the Presbyterian church; the members of the church will help with the gardens in the neighborhoods CoHO serves.
Peg Falls-Corbitt, a member of the church and a faculty member at Hendrix College, helped write the grant after Fletcher alerted her to it. She is overseeing the project, too.
“It also happened that our church, we are recognized as an Earth Care Congregation. We’ve committed to being careful and attentive to what the church can do to have sustainable practices,” she said.
The church provides a free meal, Daily Bread, at 5:30 p.m. every other Thursday at First Presbyterian Church. On the off weeks, the meal is held at First United Methodist Church, she said.
Fletcher and Falls-Corbitt said growing produce for that community meal is one goal of the garden.
“One of the problems — while low-income people might have some money for some food — fresh vegetables are too expensive,” Falls-
Corbitt said. “We offer a salad bar every time we serve a meal, and it’s just gone.
“If our community garden can either help provide that meal or send people home with some food, that would be great.”
Fletcher agreed.
“The garden will be used to help supply healthy food when people come [to First Presbyterian] looking for a food box or even utility assistance,” he said.
Fletcher said radishes, tomatoes, flowers and herbs have been planted.
In addition to supplying food through the program, Falls-Corbitt said, “We want to help educate the congregation about good gardening practices, a healthy lifestyle, so it has an educational purpose, as well as the other,” she said.
The third purpose, which Falls-Corbitt said “may be the main one for me, personally, is just to be in partnership with CoHO and the neighborhoods they serve. I do think very highly of the work that CoHO does. The opportunity to work with City of Hope is most exciting for me.”
Falls-Corbitt said she has driven a van to pick up people who need transportation to Daily Bread, and she has been to the Oakwood and Brookside neighborhoods that CoHO serves.
“I see true service and mission as building relationships with one another so there is a mutual exchange. Mission and service are not just ‘I decided someone else needs something’ and then giving it to them. You need to be in a relationship to find out what they need, and you need mutual learning and understanding.”
Falls-Corbitt said she is excited to work with Fletcher and build relationships with residents of the neighborhoods.
She said that a couple of weeks before the garden project kicked off, Fletcher spoke to the First Presbyterian congregation. On Palm Sunday, both Fletcher and the Rev. Mike Ulasewich, pastor of First Presbyterian, spoke.
“One of the things we have already done — and this is under the theme of more fully developing the partnership — is CoHO has a transition home [for men] called Hope Home, and three of our men took a meal over and shared it with Hope Home,” she said. “We coordinated it with the Daily Bread meal. I’ve heard that went really well.”
Falls-Corbitt said three other church members — Jan Spann, Betsy Williams and Jamie Henderson — are part of the garden project. She said Spann also may attend CoHO meetings to keep communication going in the partnership.
“They’re going to be the ones really focused on when does the garden need to be weeded? When do we need to plant more?” Falls-Corbitt said. “We hope it really does grow food.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.