Grand Rapids church gardens

Church gardens build community, help the hungry

By The Grand Rapids Press

June 28, 2008, 8:41AM

Press Photo/Dave RaczkowskiGreen volunteers: Members of Redeemer Covenant Church help plant a community garden in Dutton.

The deer fence that surrounds the new community garden at Redeemer Covenant Church in Gaines Township has been full of laughter.
On a recent, sunny weekday evening, the hilarity centered mostly around who was willing to get dirty and who wasn't.

Garden support Here are some support organizations in the area: • Family Network in Wyoming will provide garden assistance to neighborhood groups, schools and churches throughout Kent County. For details call 885-9919. • The Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council is a support and education network focusing on Kent, Muskegon and Ottawa counties. For details call 451-3051, or go online at www.foodshed.net

Pastor Jack Brown and his 12-year-old son, David, pulled rocks from the ground and placed them in a large circle meant to become a compost pile.
Brown referred to himself and his son as "black thumbs."
"(Gardening) is definitely outside my comfort zone," he said.
At the other end of the garden, church member Marlene Peterson waved a hose over rows of peppers, beans and cucumbers.
Debra Sportel stomped rows for sunflowers with her bare feet.
"It's exhilarating," she said. "Life comes from the dirt, and you're helping make life come from the dirt. This is really, really close to God."
The 10,000-square-foot garden, on church grounds at 6951 Hanna Lake Ave. SE, has several purposes: to give church members and neighbors space to help offset rising food costs and grow organic produce, to build community and to fill the shelves of a soon-to-open food pantry at the church.
"Times are tough, and we want to be faithful to the words of Jesus, who calls his followers to feed those who are hungry," Brown said. "When the Bible says to be fruitful and multiply and all that good stuff, it's not just people. It's, 'Go and make the most of what I've given you.'
"Our church doesn't have a whole lot of money," Brown said, "but we have land and we have lots of willing hands."

Press photo/Emily ZoladzNeighborhood garden: Judy Jelsema, of Wyoming works in Calvary Christian Church's prayer garden Monday. Jelsema and other church members planted the garden five years ago.

'Tons of food'
Redeemer isn't the only church where a vegetable garden has cropped up.
Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Wyoming has maintained a garden for five years behind the church at 3500 Byron Center Road SW.
Started by church members Judy Jelsema, Marilyn Kamstra and Phyllis Guindon, congregants and neighbors can sign up for plots and grow for their families and others.
"The first year we had tons of food, so much we couldn't give it away fast enough," Jelsema said.
They also found that more than produce thrived in the church's garden.
"We wanted to be a part of the community, and a garden is an easy way to do that," Jelsema said. "You can meet people while you're working in or visiting the garden, and help the community with what you grow."
Some of the harvest goes to food drives at the church, church suppers and nearby food pantries such as the Family Network of Wyoming.
A prayer garden with flowers is adjacent Calvary's vegetable garden, with paths and benches and a birdhouse that resembles a church that overlooks the cross on the church.
Jelsema considers the garden a holy place.
"You watch things grow," she said. "It's quiet, you hear the birds. Sometimes there are others there, working, and sometimes you're alone. God's always there."
Trinity United Methodist Church in Southeast Grand Rapids has seen how the roots of church gardens can spread throughout the neighborhood.
Church members have been working a half-acre community garden plot for 25 years on private land about 3 miles from the church.

Press Photo/Dave RaczkowskiPlanting with a purpose: Volunteer Jill Damec plants flowers in the community garden. The produce from the garden will be donated to struggling families in the area.

Crops include cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, collard greens and chard. The church takes an offering every year to pay for seeds and supplies.
Trinity member Dick Barber, 72, who has been working the garden since 1990, said those who garden take some of the harvest for themselves, and the rest is distributed to food pantries at North End Community Ministries, United Methodist Community House and South East Community Ministries.
"We depend heavily on it, because our clients depend so heavily on produce," said North End Community Ministries Director Laura Castle.
While Trinity's produce donation comprises just a small percentage of what the ministries gives out, "It's very vital," Castle said.
"God has called us to take care of the needy," she said. "It's very biblical to share with our neighbors."
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