In the fall of 2009, a group of six Leadership Spokane class members (Michelle Baldwin, Mike Burns, Cindy Dandoy, Mariah McKay, Debra Romaneschi and myself, Mark Pond), were given the task of illuminating Spokane's unmet human needs. We narrowed our scope to hunger and poor nutrition, with an eye cast toward local food production as a tool for addressing the problem.
Beyond presenting to our classmates, we wanted to put together a project that would have a lasting impact in our community. We decided to build a community garden. Through a stroke of good fortune, Captain Kyle Smith, of the Spokane Salvation Army, offered up a piece of ground on the Salvation Army campus that is just off Ruby St. at Indiana Ave.
From that point, the pieces have been falling together. We envision that residents living in the temporary housing at the Salvation Army will form the backbone of the gardening crew. Families can be housed at the Salvation Army for up to two years. The plan is to have the outgoing residents teach and guide the newly arrived residents in the finer points of growing good food. To aid in that, the Spokane Master Gardeners (thanks, Pat Munts!) have volunteered to provide a guiding hand for the garden. There is a food bank on site at the Salvation Army that is willing to help distribute any surplus food to those who most need it. We have been offered free bedding plants for the garden from Fresh Abundance (thanks, BrightSpirit!). Alex Mann of AHBL Landscape Architects has offered his planning prowess. Dan Spalding, owner of Zola, has offered to craft an artistic and whimsical fence for the garden. Brian Estes, of St. Margaret's Shelter Garden, has offered his gardening expertise. And the list continues to grow.
We are well on our way. Our plan is to have the garden up and producing food for the 2010 growing season. To do that, we need to raise approximately $5,000 for supplies and construction materials. As a fundraiser, we are selling our newly minted Leadership Spokane cookbooks. Compiled of the favorite recipes of Leadership Spokane alumni, staff and the 2009 - 2010 class, the cookbooks are selling for $10 each. Tack on $2 if you would like to have your copy mailed to you. Email Meredith at lsintern@leadershipspokane.org for details.
Oooh... one last shout-out. The cost of printing the cookbooks was underwritten by Northern Quest Casino. That means that the full $10 purchase price will be going to purchasing shovels, soaker hoses, seeds, wheelbarrows and all those other things that make a garden a garden. Many thanks, Northern Quest!
Stay tuned for updates.
Since the KXLY TV spot and the article in the food section in The Spokesman-Review about the cookbook, we've been getting a lot of orders through the mail here in the Leadership Spokane office. What's remarkable--and moving--to me in this age of facebook and blogs and paypal is the nature of these orders. They look like they were written by my Grandma. We're seeing old-fashioned stationery, elegant (sometimes shaky) penmanship, carefully filled out checks and lots of little notes. "I want to support the students in their project." "I must commend you for your contribution to the community." “Thank you for caring about the poor.”
ReplyDeleteThese letters are coming from all over the county, and they remind me that there are still a lot of people who read the paper and define text as the contents of a book. I also suspect that many of these people are hearing about Leadership Spokane for the first time. As Mark Pond, one of the members of the project team, writes in the blog, “The food produced in a community garden is often a mere sideshow when compared with the sense of camaraderie and feelings of community that are part-and-parcel of having strangers coming together to work toward a common goal.” I agree completely. But, I wonder if he or any of the project team dreamed that this little cookbook would be a means of building community with a group of former strangers who care about their neighbors and like to cook and read the paper.