Church And Community Garden

Some of the Giving Garden's produce loaded for delivery.

There is a marriage, of sorts, between a church and a community garden. It's happened in a declining, post-industrial community of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hope is made of small things. An involved church and a garden that provides community members with fresh produce does just that.

The GIVING GARDEN has become intertwined with the work and mission of the PITTSFIELD CHURCH OF CHRIST, almost to the point of not being able to speak of one without the other. Russell Moody explains more about the reasons for the Garden, "The Giving Garden exists to make a difference in our larger community. We operate on the notion of loving our neighbor. Sustainable practices help the earth, impact people that need a helping hand, and is considerate of our earth moving forward. The Giving Garden is working example of people coming together to help people, leaving the smallest footprint possible."



The idea with the Giving Garden is that anyone who wants to tend a garden is allowed to utilize any plot that's available. But seniors and those in need become the recipients of the bounty produced. It's not unusual for the gardens to produce more than 8,000 pounds of produce in a single year. Even some local organizations have benefited from the harvest, including a hospice, which has received sunflowers to brighten up the rooms of their patients and the local Headstart program, which received pumpkins for their youngsters to decorate.

Last year, the Church, the Garden, and Alchemy Initiative teamed up to offer a new youth education venture, Roots Rising. The program provides life skills workshops for teens, while also providing them jobs on farms, in food pantries, and in community kitchens. With a launching grant, the program began last summer. The previous summer the Church built a new basketball court for local youth, so they had a safe place to play with friends and acquaintances.

Local businesses and citizens regularly to keep the Giving Garden in operation. With such groups as the Springside Garden Group and Ward's Nursery contributing shoots and seeds, that community feel helps make the work a little easier for volunteers like Bambi, Woody, Zoey, Nick, Gordon, Rob, Nancy, Kim, and many others.

Tending the garden takes physical labor.

The next event happens in just a few days, on June 2 at the Pittsfield Church of Christ. The event is being held to help with distribution of child IDs and to provide kids with the experience of touching a real live truck. Kids can get information and sign up for the Boys and Girls Club Of the Berkshires. There will be a raffle for a bike gift card, and there is a donated bike that one of the youngsters can win for free. Sounds like fun!

Sunflowers for the local hospice.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/russell-moody-giving-garden/; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BerkshireBotanical/videos/1277167195694370/?hc_ref=ARTQ_0hlqpKex7gao9SIp7kJFX-B4xta-zZCx4bRBArqHL61vbg3-LkbwnXEABwLGaw; this post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1150108035129795/; and the above links.

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