10 Days to Victory: Day 4 = HOPE by LaManda Joy

 

Your vote = HOPE Click HERE

Once we got our original property and started working I hoped people would respond. And once they did, which didn’t take long, I learned there were a lot of other hopes and dreams already attached to this unused piece of urban land.

One of our first volunteers was Brett. He showed up early on and was happily ready to do the labor with us. He worked at a desk job and looked forward to the opportunity to get outside and sweat. We’d go to the bar next to the garden for lunch breaks and talk about what a garden could mean to this neighborhood. And I learned that his hope was that he’d be able to teach his young son how to garden and have a place to spend outdoor time with him.

Brett didn’t know the first thing about gardening but he attended the classes and asked lots of good questions of the Master Gardeners and others who knew what they were doing. His joy when “stuff started to grow” was infectious. We all enjoyed watching his small son quickly become a garden expert and one of our chief watering “instructors” – there’s nothing quite like a five year old telling an adult they’re watering incorrectly.

When Vedgewater was being built, Brett and family were there from the start getting their hands dirty building the garden. They were excited because the location was closer to their house. Something major had changed though… they were now the veterans and were able to show new gardeners the ropes, make them feel welcome and part of a community and, most importantly, help them learn how to grow food.

Brett’s is one of hundreds of people who didn’t know the joy of growing food but hoped that a garden would give their family an experience to last a lifetime.

Whenever I get to see Brett and his son in the garden (and once in awhile his pretty wife too!) I know there will be hugs all around. We’ve been in it together since the beginning. We’ve shared our hopes. And we’ve experienced dreams come true.

By voting to secure $10k from Chase Community Giving more families can have the place and the experience of growing their own food.

VOTE HERE: http://j.mp/ChaseGivingPGP and please tell your friends. A quick vote can make a dream come true!