By: Katie Sobiech
How many people do you know who would leave their comfortable lifestyle, steady job and white picket fence neighborhood to move into, arguably, one of the most dangerous areas in Akron?
A place many wouldn’t even prefer to drive through, let alone live in?
Not many, or even one, right?
Posted in Education, Food, Homelessness, Neighborhoods, Youth
Tagged Akron, Bicycles, Community, Community Development, community garden, Countless ex-offenders, Cycle of poverty, Education, Grassroots Ministry, Homeless, Inner City, Northeast Ohio, recovering addicts, South Street Ministries, Substance abuse, Summit County, Summit Lake Neighborhood, The Front Porch
“Gardening is cheaper than therapy… and I might even get tomatoes.”
“Gardening requires lots of water…most of it in the form of perspiration.”
“Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden here this summer?”
These are just a few of the things I heard in my community garden over opening weekend. It told me a lot about the people involved and the expectations of what the new Glendale Community Garden means to this community.
Posted in Food, Sustainability
Tagged Akron, American Community Garden Association, community garden, Compost, Grow Akron
Alex Miller, Co-Founder of Akron Urban Gardens, and life-long Akron resident, isn’t just talk, but has put his community dreams into action through the Y-Bridge Memorial Community Garden.
Recently graduating from Akron University with a degree in Urban Planning and a focus on food policy and planning, he has set his mind towards cultivating unity and beautification in Cascade Village through gardening.
“All the issues that surround that –the whole arena – including urban agriculture – has melted my butter for years,” Miller said.
This passion led him and his Co-Founder, Dana Starvazi, in creating Akron Urban Gardens, under which the Y-Bridge memorial falls.
She’s been referred to as the “fairy godmother” of community gardens in Akron, Ohio, known for her art of turning “trashed” areas into treasured gardens of beauty.
The late Elaine Evans sure left a legacy and impact on this city that will be remembered forever.
“(There was) a magic that she created by creating these gardens and then watching what happened in the neighborhood. She’s been adding her little gardening fairy dust to neighborhoods that most people would rather just drive through,” Sarah Vradenburg, a Master Gardener, recalls.
“Elaine stopped and took a look around and said ‘This can be better. I can make this better.’ And did that,” Vradenburg, who also wrote an article on Evans for the Akron Beacon Journal, continued.
Posted in Neighborhoods
Tagged Akron Beacon Journal, Beacon Journal, community garden, Garden
