From tomorrow's Observer Page 1Got Green?By Trish RooneyIn the spring of 2009 four Lakewood Christian Service Center client families had the wonderful opportunity to each garden a 10’ x 10’ plot, thanks to the generosity of the Lakewood Earth and Food (LEAF) Community. It was such a positive experience that I approached Dru Siley, the City’s Department of Planning and Development assistant director, to see if there might be city-owned property available for our use, knowing that the growing popularity of the LEAF gardens would make it next to impossible for them to offer us additional plots. Dru offered LCSC approximately 5,000 square feet at Madison Park, where the outdoor skating rink used to be. There was a caveat: the garden had to be an added amenity to the park to tie in with the Park Master Plan and the improvements that had been made and were planned for Madison Park.
In October 2009, LCSC volunteers and students from St. Edward High School amended the garden soil with SweetPeet donated by Urban Organics and left the garden to “winter.” At LCSC we put out sign-up sheets for interested families and ended up with 52! Using a lottery, we selected the 10 client families who each got a 4’ x 20’ raised bed.
As the mom of an LHS grad, I approached Dr. Bill Wagner, Principal, to see if there would be any interest in involving students. His response was an immediate yes. Mike Dow and his West Shore Career-Technical District Construction Trades students built the garden fence from re-purposed 70-year-old bleachers the city removed from Madison Park. Science teacher Mark Rathge had his horticulture students propagate all the plants from seeds as part of their curriculum. Not only did this support save us a lot of money, but also engaged the students in this community project. Our goal was to use as much repurposed material as possible in the garden. With a grant from OSU Extension we were able to buy 500 linear feet of 2’x10’ boards from deconstructed homes for the raised beds from A Piece of Cleveland. And artist and metalworker Paul Hadley of Classic Metal Studio created the garden gate from found metal.
LCSC has not had a fundraising event since 2007 because we have been spending our time on our move, revamping our staff, recruiting new volunteers, creating and improving our programs and converting all client files into electronic records. We decided the time was right for 2010 and the community garden would be a great location for the event. And got green? was created.
With sustainability an objective in our garden, who better than Jonathon Sawyer, chef/owner of the Greenhouse Tavern on E. 4th for our celebrity chef? I approached him through his special events and PR manager, Kyla Gala, and he quickly agreed to not only bring his staff to cook at the event and do a live demo, but also to use produce grown by LCSC clients in our garden. In the “small world” category, Kyla happens to be an LHS grad herself and her parents still live in the historic Birdtown neighborhood! One of our client gardeners has provided heirloom tomatoes that the Greenhouse Tavern chefs are using on their menu!! Plans are underway for us to grow additional products for them next year.
West Shore senior culinary arts students will serve as assistants and line cooks to the Greenhouse Tavern chefs at the September 10th event. And while on the subject of green, Great Lakes Brewing Company has generously donated all the beer for the event. Kristine Jackson and KJ Blues will entertain. Kristine has donated back a portion of her performance fee to support LCSC. In keeping with the theme, local artists have created garden benches from 100% repurposed materials to be auctioned that night. Mayor Ed FitzGerald and Dr. Bill Wagner are honorary chairs of this great event - without the support of the City of Lakewood and Lakewood High School; our community garden would not be possible.
Ticket sales will benefit LCSC’s programs and services at a time of community need never seen before. We are currently serving 750 families a month with food (94% of whom are Lakewood residents). This staggering number represents a 42% increase over last year. Between 30 and 40 Lakewood households are applying for homeless prevention assistance in the form of help with rent and/or utilities each week. Funds from got green? will help us continue to offer an important safety net to our fellow community members in these very tough times.
Tickets are $50 ($20 tax deductible) and are available by clicking the got green? icon on our website, http://lcsclakewood.org or at the Center, 14230 Madison Avenue every day from 10am through 4pm.Please help us help our community!
The Lakewood Observer, on newsstands and businesses for FREE tomorrow at 4pm.
Support our advertisers, our contributors, and those that help this city.
.
