Community garden restores hope to once-vibrant Athens neighborhood Growing together
By Kimberly E. Mock [EMAIL PROTECTED] Andrew Pearson of Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, left, and neighborhood resident Bernice Jones prepare soil for a community garden in the Brooklyn neighborhood in Athens. R.C. Rique/Staff arbara Sims remembers a long-overgrown garden as the vibrant social center of the Brooklyn community in Athens where she grew up. Now, after years of fighting drugs and crime along its streets and vacant lots, a garden in the community again will grow, as neighborhood residents and Athens-Clarke County work to build one of the first community gardens in the city on Bazzelle Avenue. Andrew Pearson, Athens water conservation coordinator, said the idea to place a community garden in the Brooklyn community developed from a meeting of officials affiliated with Greenfest, a series of events in Athens that promotes environmental improvement at work and home. Pearson said the group wanted to help build better communities throughout Athens by incorporating a national project called Community Gardens here in the Classic City. ''We wanted to do something to help better the community,'' and we chose to do community gardens, said Pearson. ''The idea is to help get the project started, and then give it to the community for them to take ownership of it. This is the pilot year for the program, but once you get one built, it will grow across the county.'' Pearson said the Brooklyn community was chosen to host the first garden because its residents had the heartiest response to the program. County volunteers as well as community residents are working to build the garden, which will feature a variety of vegetables, flowers and plants in nine beds on Bazzelle Avenue. Greenfest planning committee chairman Nancy Lindbloom said the project's success in the Brooklyn community should help it be established in other urban neighborhoods across Athens. A pair of gardening gloves sits on the edge of what will be a flowerbed as part of the garden off Bazzelle Avenue. Neighborhood residents and Athens-Clarke County volunteers are working together to create one of the first community gardens in the city. R.C. Rique/Staff ''Gardening is a relaxing way to exercise and enjoy being outdoors for many people,'' Lindbloom said of why the program is successful. ''It also helps bring neighbors together - and it really is the embodiment of the community. It represents hope in the community ... and it will beautify the community. But also it's allowing people to work together to beautify their neighborhood.'' Lindbloom said the Brooklyn garden was made possible through many donations, including a donation of the lot as well as plants and materials to build the garden's beds. Lindbloom said the project isn't done yet, as the garden needs a proper fence and a tool shed, as well as monetary donations to help cover watering costs for the garden. But the fact the garden is even in place is deemed a miracle by Sims, who said she hopes it will bring people out of their homes and into the community once again. ''Five years ago, you couldn't have rode up and down this street because of all the drugs,'' Sims said. ''Hopefully, this garden will bring about a unity among this community, and we think it will be (an) improvement here.'' Tax-refundable donations for the Brooklyn community garden project are being accepted by check at the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia. Additional information on the Athens Community Gardens project can be obtained by called Nancy Lindbloom at (706) 549-4720 or online at www.communitygarden.org. Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, May 17, 2003. ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden