Beyond Housing Community Garden

On a dark, rainy Wednesday in mid October, a group of St. Mark Presbyterian members journeyed to the Beyond Housing community garden in Pagedale. Miss Faye and Miss Clora, the neighborhood matriarchs and garden supervisors, greeted us warmly. A few neighbors and city employees also stopped by during the morning to see what we were doing. They were pleasantly surprised that we did not cancel due to the weather.

This was our fifth and last trip to the garden for 2016. Peppers and okra and tender greens were harvested -- fresh food that would be distributed to primarily elderly shut-ins that lived near by. We weeded the strawberry bed as well as the mustard and turnip greens beds. Fruit trees were mulched. We weeded and turned over the soil in the inactive beds, readying them for winter. The big flower bed along the street received a much over due weeding and trimming. We enjoyed lunch and friendly chatter at a local restaurant treating Miss Faye and Miss Clora to a rare meal away from home.

Beyond Housing is a not for profit focused on a holistic approach to make the communities in the Normandy School District a better place to live. It is a daunting set of challenges, but there is progress. St. Mark members have been blessed to be able to share our faith through our words and deeds, becoming a small part of that progress. We are building personal connections with members of the community. We are learning much about each other in positive, respectful, honest, and relaxed ways. Our work in the garden helps provide fresh, healthy food for those who have so little, but need so much.

Please lift up all those who are served by Beyond Housing and those that volunteer to serve. Consider joining others in the St. Mark family when we return to volunteer in the garden or in another opportunity for engagement through Beyond Housing. (for more on this organization: http://www.beyondhousing.org/)