Community Garden Party

 The garden gang

 Saturday was the organizational meeting of the community garden initiative.  Pat wasn't optimistic, but he was proven wrong.  We had a good turnout and there is hope to add even more to this venture.

This is the group!  I was really excited by our meeting on Saturday.  We have a good group of highly invested people from the neighborhood.  Even more than that, these folks want to meet again next month because they know of several more people who would like to be involved in the garden effort.  Many of those present have experience with gardening and LaRena, the woman behind the big book, is a master gardener.  This is gonna be great.

We surveyed the site and talked about next steps, of which there are many.  We hope to get some roto-tilling done before the freeze and even talked about building some beds so we're ready for summer.  Valerie stepped up to be the secretary and Sydney is willing to be one of the storytellers.  Gene had said that he would be another story teller, but he couldn't be at this meeting.

We discussed the future plans for this group and talked about creating a neighborhood association.  I thought there would be a lot of resistance to that idea, but people were on-board.  I believe God has blessed this group and our purpose.  There's a lot to do and we pray for ongoing good weather in which we can complete those activities.

Busy, busy, busy

I haven't blogged for such a long time.  So much going on.  In fact, we had some confusion and I'm doing this in Fran's office 'cause I had to drop off Ross for choir.  Blogging needs to be regular and I have a meeting later and so here I am in her office. 

The community garden organizing meeting is this weekend and I'm working to get that together.  I have a grant to write and contacts to make.  I was worried, but God provided a master gardener from right in the neighborhood.  Props to LaRena who is excited and ready to get to work.

Met up with Ryan today and we discussed community development in Keller Park.  Ryan is really wanting to work on that since the CCDA conference.  We talked about some good plans to culminate in a spring clean-up and concert.  What's even better is that he doesn't want to tie it to the church so we open it up to a lot more people that way.  Then we went and looked at some locations that would be possible neighborhood gathering places.  Like me, Ryan would like to come up with some sort of coffee house/drop in center in the community.  A lot of work to be done.

I'm still working with the Housing Authority to put a program in place.  Just got an email from those folks and it's being put off until the first part of December.  The longer this thing stretches out the lower my motivation is.  The hurdles make me wonder if this isn't God's will that I'm active at LaSalle Landing.  Gene and I talked about this motivation level today.

TAP is a community organizing group in South Bend affiliated Gamaliel and I'm doing stuff with them now.  I'm meeting a lot of other pastors and it seems like something that is a positive step for my ministry.  I'm also going to start volunteering at Stone Soup at the end of the month.  Stone Soup provides assistance with utilities and rent as well as budget guidance.

As I think about what I am doing and my ministry it occurs to me that there are two levels to the work.  The system is broken and on one level my work touches individuals.  LaSalle Landing, the community garden and Stone Soup speak to that level and provide that help.  The other initiatives like TAP seek to address the larger, systemic issues.  I had never really considered this two-fold approach, but that concept makes sense to me.  What it also does is keep my busy, busy, busy.

Not an exciting blog, but I had to get something out there.  I'll post more next week about the garden.

ubiquitous depression

Depression is a verifiable clinical syndrome.  Most of us know about this depression and quite a few people have experienced the disorder.  It occurs to me that our society is experiencing a form of depression.  Last week I met with another community organizer and we talked about our impression of people being disconnected, uninvolved and apathetic.  These sound like the symptoms of depression.  The more I  thought about this diagnosis the more it seems to fit for large sections of our society.

Lets face it, if you had to live in a neighborhood in which vacant and dilapidated houses were sprinkled throughout, it would not compliment your mental health.  One of the largest landmarks in the neighborhood where I minister is the Drewry Brewery.  The defunct brewery has been scheduled for demolition for some time, but no action has been taken.  Instead, the abandoned facility is dangerous and a magnet for undesirable activities.

This sort of environment can do little other than breed an atmosphere of apathy, isolation and, as I said, depression.  The nation's economic situation coupled with poor employment options only adds to the general malaise.  So, what's the solution?  Prozac in the drinking water?

This is what the community developer/organizer walks into.  This is the situation I face every day.  What does motivate people and move them out of their doldrums is an issue.  When there is an issue that breeds strong feelings a neighborhood can get energized and organize around that issue.  Sometimes an organizer needs to present an issue in a way that it clearly impinges on the interests of a neighborhood.  The next step is to teach people how they can make a difference and impact the process.

I am working on organizing the neighborhood around the church with a community gardenin hopes that this will appeal to folks' altruism and benefit the surrounding community.  As we work through the planning and organization during this fall and winter, I know that people can be motivated to organize around issues that impact on their quality of life and house values.  I also think that the changing administration, with the openness for input, will also contribute to involvement in the process of neighborhood organization.