The Homeless Garden Project Spring 2009

"On Sunday, I was on a bike ride with my son, and we stopped at the Homeless Garden Project. The garden was full of teenagers from Temple Beth El doing volunteer work. We think of the Project as benefiting the homeless, but in so many ways I think the Project benefits the rest of us along with the homeless. It provides opportunities for us to feel valued and generous, and allows so many to learn about growing food." Brian McElroy, Driscoll's been thinking a lot about the service and volunteer work and all the other names it goes by happening every day at the Homeless Garden Project and want to take an opportunity to sing its praises. I am speaking here in the broadest possible way about giving, helping, using one's time and energy to help make one's community as it "might or should be" rather than as it is; about giving that breaks down our common notion of a giver and a receiver. Often at the Project, people are doing "community service" to learn more about their community. Interns are helping out this quarter by tabling, doing farm work, and cooking beautiful meals for our grateful and hungry crew. Trainees volunteer after their paid shifts to devote more time to a favorite project or to teach a workshop at the plant sale. Of course our Board members are all volunteers. Other volunteers include a plumber who does our required annual backflow prevention device testing, a therapist who volunteers weekly at the farm, our bookkeeper, a programmer who advises on technical issues, graphic artists who do newsletter layout, and the photographer who takes most of our newsletter photos. To be part of this wonderful community is truly an unexpected reward of this work.

Down on the Farm

I've

To give, to serve, to be of use...

what one wants to give, and finds unanticipated gifts knowledge, friendship, a larger sense of what our community is and can be, a way to apply and extend what one has learned in books, a bodily sense of what usefulness feels like, the loss of rigid hierarchies and borders in exchange for a deep sense of reciprocity. In a departure from this regular column, I thought it might be fun to offer a small quiz. Guess the author of the following quotes. The answers are at the end of the article. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. (1) We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. (2) Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others. (3) If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. (4) Genuine politics-even politics worthy of the name-the only politics I am willing to devote myself to is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole. (5)

In my own life and from what I've witnessed at the farm, service provides meaning and purpose. One goes into service thinking of

all of you on this road with the Homeless Garden Project, our sincere thanks for your contributions. If you'd like to join us, or to find out more about how you can contribute to the work of the Homeless Garden Project, check our website www.homelessgardenproject.org for details, stop by the farm during open volunteer hours (Thursday and Friday, 10-2), or call us at 426.3609. Darrie Ganzhorn is Director of Programs and Operations
Anwers from front cover article: 1. Anne Frank, 2. Herman Melville, 3. Barbara Bush, 4. Aboriginal activists group, 5. Vaclav Havel, 6. Sarvoday movement saying

To

We build the road and the road builds us. (6)

Interview with

Vo i c e s f r o m t h e F i e l d s...

Deborah.

I first met Deborah when I started volunteering at the Homeless Garden Project last fall. Nearly three months later, she shows me how little I still know about the people who welcome me into their workplace every week.

I used to be much more of a perfectionist I had always been inclined that way, and when I was working in the Silicon Valley, you know, technically speaking it's either accurate or it's inaccurate. There's no 'semi'. And out at the garden it's different. I've learned to do things quicker, and not just perfect. Like planting the plants in the little hole... I watched other people do it and they do it way faster than me. So I've learned to go through and do it just good enough, but not perfect. Because a plant will still grow. One of the things I've learned is to value myself. I've learned what my limits are so that I can pull myself back, and when I've reached my limit, I know it and I recognize it. When I was in Silicon Valley I just kept going until I was beyond exhausted. I couldn't function anymore. And now that I'm here I've come to value myself as a person more, and my own mental and physical health. I take care of myself, and at the end of a work day I feel good, I don't feel... wiped out. It's very different.

How did you first find out about the Homeless Garden Project? I was living at Page Smith Community House, and my friend who lived in
the house next to me, had previously worked here. She took me out there to show me the garden, and I just thought it looked really nice... really well maintained and they had wonderful rich dirt. We went back and filled out an application and... that's how I got here.

The vegetables doing their job.

Where were you working before that? Well, I worked for about 18 years in Silicon Valley as a technical writer.

That was very, very challenging... and I guess I just hit the wall. Just, you know got stressed and tired out. Not just burnt out but I kind of hit the limit of what I was capable of doing in terms of technical aspects... I consider myself to be a bit more average in the technical field, and the people I'm competing against are the best and the brightest in the whole world. Even though I tried to bend my personal talents, in the area of doing things like websites and online documentation, linking the documentation properly and so on... still there were a lot of people who were just way better than me... and I was exhausted. Just mentally and physically exhausted. So... I hit a wall.

What is your favorite part of working at the garden? Being in the sunshine. Being in a large, wide-open space outdoors. And just
the camaraderie of working with the people there... because we're all going through difficult times and, once you get to know people a little, and they accept you, it's really nice. It really is a very relaxing place and we really try to keep it... what would be the word? Peaceful. We get a lot of people that get up there and they just stand there and just go "ahhh. It's peaceful, isn't it?"and it really is.

What have been your biggest challenges working here? Umm... okay, I might throw you a bit of a curve ball here. I have mental

What would you say are the things you really excel at your talents and/or passions? I like to write. Sometimes I can be good at organizing things, and I think I

have a talent for being able to oversee things from the very top level. I mean, in just a few minutes of looking at a project I could tell you where the weaknesses and the strengths were, and in a writing project I could give you a timeline. I could give you an off-the-cuff answer of how long it's going to take to produce a certain kind of documentation, and I was very accurate with it. My bosses were surprised at how accurate I could be.

illnesses. Not all are stress-related. And... sometimes I can't work for a while. Sometimes I'm off work for two or three weeks at a time. At this place they accept it, and they encourage me that if I really need it, that I can take the time off. They have helped me tremendously to... give myself the time that I need to pull myself together, to get the psychological counseling, the medicines, and all that, and when I have a real strong need for something, whatever that is, they're here to help me. And in Silicon Valley I'd just lose my job. So it's a different world. It's really different to have somebody who accepts me.

What have you learned from working here? I already knew a lot about gardening when I got here. And despite that, I

Anything else you want the readers of our newsletter to know about the Homeless Garden Project that they might not already know? It's just a rhythm of work that I think a lot of people have not tasted before in
their jumbled lives, to see their own efforts come to fruition in a way, like that... to look and go "oh, I planted those squashes, and I helped water them every week to make sure that they grew". And for me it's so very different from writing. I write books about computers, and by the time the thing is published it's almost out of date. They're already working on the next version of software. When I come here, and I grow vegetables, and we eat them, that always feels like something worthwhile to me. The vegetables, they've done their job. They've nourished the people, and that's a really good feeling.

found that there's a heck of a lot that I don't know. I learned about gardening from doing it with my parents, from the time I was very small, because my parents came from a generation where just about everybody had some tomatoes and stuff in the back yard. But I'm just jaw-droppingly amazed at how much Paul [Glowaski, Garden Director] knows, and when I go out there and I work with him I learn a lot from him. Not only just in how to do gardening, but also... he's a very calm person, and that helps me because I can get too frazzled at times. continued on next column

Deborah, thanks so much for sharing this with me. Melanie Butler, a volunteer at HGP conducted and transscribed this interview with Deborah an HGP Trainee

Photos in this issue were taken by Jon Kersey and Suzy Hunt.

Safe Space for

San Francisco

Vo i c e s f r o m t h e F i e l d s...
Sharing work and meals, pride gained from a job well done, friendships with other trainees, respect and support from staff, visits from student groups and volunteers, and connection to other programs and services were all described as creating an environment that contrasts sharply from the frequent mistreatment experienced in other settings. The bottom line is that there aren't many "safe" spaces for unhoused people in Santa Cruz. HGP is one of them. and currently homeless people and to advocate for needed services and policy changes. Obviously, affordable housing, quality health care, well paying jobs, and strong education and training programs are a must. Equally important is the elimination of sleeping and camping bans and other practices that criminalize people based on their economic status. In a society in which discrimination is all too common, our findings show how incredibly important "safe" spaces, like HGP, are.
References National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Center on Homelessness and Poverty. (2006, January). A dream denied: The criminalization of homelessness in U.S. cities. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from: www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/report.pdf

HGP Provides "Safe Space" for Homeless Community

people at HGP's Farm...

and Los Angeles share a dubious distinction both cities were identified in a 2006 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Center on Homelessness and Poverty as being among the 20 "meanest" cities for people who are homeless. Although Santa Cruz did not make the list, the city's sleeping, camping, and blanket bans were mentioned in the report. These policies, which are part of a national trend toward criminalizing essential activities, are just one form of discrimination facing people who are homeless. Discrimination is also common when trying to get a job, find housing, or obtain health care.

We want our findings to help raise awareness of the hardships facing formerly

against homeless women and men in Santa Cruz, we spent several months interviewing trainees and friends of (HGP) about their treatment in the larger community. We also wanted to learn about the types of services that people need and barriers to getting assistance. We thank our interviewees for sharing so much of themselves with us and we thank HGP staff for their warm welcome. It is impossible to summarize all that we learned from these conversations in a few short paragraphs but we will try.

To learn more about discrimination

Heather Bullock is an associate professor of psychology and director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Shirley Truong is a graduate student in the social psychology program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also participates in HGP's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and volunteers at the farm.

discriminated against in the broader community because of their housing situation. This took the form of being called names, being talked down to, excluded, or treated as invisible. Some discussed feeling unwelcome downtown, and others shared concerns about their personal safety or the safety of friends who were living in cars or public spaces. Being ticketed for sleeping or camping in public spaces, and limited access to legal advice and quality dental care were also significant problems. These experiences are hurtful in many ways they can have a major impact on physical, emotional, economic, and spiritual well-being. Limited access to quality dental care, for example, has a ripple effect by contributing to poor health and making it difficult to land a job.

The majority of the 25 women and men that we spoke with described being

Garden Project is a special place. When we listened to trainees and HGP friends talk about their experiences at the farm, what stood out most was how the farm, and the program more generally, gave people a feeling of safety and a strong sense of community. continued on next column

This probably isn't news to anyone reading this column: the Homeless

The Hancock Challenge

The

Vo i c e s f r o m t h e F i e l d s...
Gets a Big Lift-off!

Benefit Concert
The Aptos Community Foundation collaborated with

Hancock Challenge to stabilize income flow for the Homeless Garden Project throughout the year (see last issue), got off to a great start! Not surprisingly, the first pledge came from someone whose name has been synonymous with championing the homeless, along with Paul Lee and Page Smith, for the past 15-20 years: Rowland Rebele Rowland "Reb" Rebele. As a significant donor to the Hancock Challenge, we asked him a few questions about his involvement with the Homeless Garden Project.

for the Homeless Garden Project and Aptos Community Foundation

John Orlando

How did you first get involved with homelessness in Santa Cruz County? I started getting involved with the homeless population through my church in

1984. Paul Lee, Paul Pfotenhauer and Page Smith started the Citizens Committee for the Homeless (CCH) and from that developed the Interfaith Satellite Shelters where each participating church provided a night every week of shelter and food for homeless persons. My church was one of those. The churches served 40-50 people a night. We'd take people in, cook them dinner and bed them down for the night. Then we would make bag lunches for them for the next day. The Homeless Garden Project initially was a training and nutritious food component of CCH, and eventually split off. So I have been involved a long time.

the Homeless Garden Project to hold a benefit concert on Sunday, April 26th, hosted by John Orlando. The afternoon affair was attended by an enthusiastic group of audiophiles. The concert showcased classical pianists Robert Bowman, John Orlando and Michael Tierra, with complex and beautifully executed solos and works for four hands by composers Claude Debussy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Robert Bowman finished the concert with a resounding piece by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The concert brought in over $5,000 to benefit both organizations.

Michael Tierra

Recently you made a substantial contribution pledge to the Hancock Challenge... what was your thinking about this decision? Nonprofit organizations need sustaining help. They have to find
sustainability. Their needs don't go away; salaries don't go away. There are different ways to do it. They can do it by getting regular government funding, but this is not very secure. The key is getting regular contributions. I am very impressed with the commitment of this gentleman (Quentin Hancock). This is a very impressive matching grant. It creates an important funding model that will inspire commitments from others, and has from me.

fare prepared by Giovanni Guerisoli and Christina Locke of the Bayview Hotel and Ristorante Barolo in Aptos. Many thanks go to the businesses and people who helped make this a wonderful success: Whole Foods, Driscolls, Fitz Fresh, Robert Bauman Sorensen's Resort, Aptos Coffee Roasting Company, Bayview Hotel, John Orlando, Robert Bowman, Michael Tierra, Connor Vlacancic, Teresa Seward, Suzy Hunt, Ann Thierman, Douglas Davis, Christ Lutheran Church, Woutje Swets, Jim Lang, Quentin Hancock, Darrie Ganzhorn, Thomas Mann, Cabrillo Summer Music Theater, Bodywork & Biogenics, Jeanne Manss, Homeless Garden Project, Carmella D'Oro, MaryAnne Belle, Renee Shepherd, Seline Kepila, Juanita Orlando, Spiro Massimo, John Bauer, and Maydene Fisher.

The event included a silent and live auction and fine

We want YOU!

What might you say to others who are undecided about participating in the Hancock Challenge? People who are undecided need to know this is a good project. Growing up I In your life, what are you most passionate about? I want to leave a legacy that will endure and continue to help people.

We are excited about expanding our Board of Directors, and some of you may be

was very fortunate. I had a good family, an education and a good start towards being successful; I always thought this somehow should go back to others. We need to be grateful, no matter how our good fortune comes about. A person doesn't need to be a Christian to understand the good sense in giving back!

You can Google Rowland Rebele for even more information about this generous donor to fighting homelessness in Santa Cruz County.

interested in joining! This is a volunteer position. We are looking for people who: a) love the mission of the Homeless Garden Project; b) have time to commit to attending meetings and participating in organizational functions (roughly an average of 6-8 hours/month); c) have a commitment to helping the agency achieve financial security, especially in raising public awareness and financial support; d) like to work as part of a team e) get excited about helping others in need and giving back to the community. If this sounds like just the "thing" for you, please contact us at:

For informationa bout making a pledge to the HGP, contact Darrie Ganzhorn at 831.426.3609.2#

[email protected] or [email protected] for additional information.

We'd love to hear from you!

Make a difference...

buy a share in your community!

The story of Homeless Garden Project's CSA Fund One of the ways that the

Bouquets to Hospice
Each week during the summer months, Hospice of Santa Cruz County

"Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul."
The Koran

Homeless Garden Project helps support itself is through the sale of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares. This is where members of our community purchase shares in the garden. These shares consist of certified organic vegetables, fruit and flowers grown on the farm. There is approximately 12-14 pounds of product in each weekly share, and shares are purchased by the growing season. Garden offers "scholarship shares" whereby the weekly boxes of fruits and vegetables are purchased by an interested community member and donated to local organizations such as the River Street Shelter or Hospice of Santa Cruz County. This provides their clients with nutritious, wholesome, organic food and uplifting organic flowers. a win-win-win situation! HGP benefits from the sale, which supports its programs, the recipient organization benefits by receiving organic food and flowers, and the donor benefits by receiving a good tax deduction not to mention the good karma and feelings that come with giving!

The

receives a very welcome delivery of beautiful fresh-harvested flowers from our friends at the Homeless Garden Project thanks to donors to the Homeless Garden Project's CSA Fund. "It's amazing how a simple bouquet of flowers can bring so much joy and happiness to our patients and their families," says Catherine Parry, Hospice nurse, "we are so grateful to HGP for their generous donation, there's a lot of love put into each and every bouquet." Nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteer visitors take flowers into the homes and facilities where patients live. "We're so appreciative of this opportunity to bring caring support from our community into these homes; our families are so touched that they are remembered," says Shirley Sapena, Hospice social worker. "Our intent is to make each and every patient feel special, the beautiful bouquets help us do that." One particular patient she remembers commented how she felt like a queen with all the attention she was receiving from Hospice care, and she had never felt like that before. Hospice chaplain, remembers this particularly touching story of a patient who had once been an avid gardener. "Joe welled up with tears, saying he had never received flowers from anyone before this. He visibly brightened when he held the bouquet, recalling many happy memories of tending gardens." Thanks to the generosity and support of the folks in our community who support the Homeless Garden Project, uplifting bouquets are distributed weekly among our 125 patients and their families. ospice of Santa Cruz County provides compassionate presence and professional expertise for individuals and their families confronted with end-of-life issues. Since 1978, Hospice of Santa Cruz County (formerly called Hospice Caring Project) has brought comfort to thousands at their most vulnerable stage of life. Visit our website: www.hospicesantacruz.org or call (831) 430-3000 for more information on hospice care, transitions, grief support and volunteering.

It's

supporting at least two worthwhile community organizations, all for the price of one good act: buying a share. Please call us at 831-426-3609 extension 2# to make a difference! Or donate online at:

We are happy to help you make a difference in your community while

www.homelessgardenproject.org/Donate.htm#csa

Thanks to our special angels in the business world:

Driscoll's donated Light Brown Apple Moth traps, monitoring and control expertise, plastic mulch and bought a scholarship share Sweetbriar donated persimilis Earthbound Farms Mission Printers Automatic Data Processing Lush Cosmetics New Leaf Community Markets Adobe Systems Santa Cruz Community Credit Union North Coast Vision Ron Slack and the Good Times Renee's Garden Bob Carlton Graphics Barry Swenson Builder for use of Natural Bridges Farm Employees at Morgan Stanley, Kaiser Permanente, Union Bank and Edison International

Recent tribute gifts made to HGP In Honor Of: Sudha Rajameni Jamie Daughtery
Laurie Hauer Nancy Sugars

In Memory Of:
Jan Larson Rosalie Kraft Dore Bodenheimer

John and Ann Dizikes Paul and Jeanette Johnson, Joyce McLean,

Beverly Lynds, Torria Nelson-Weeks and Nancy Sugars Khristine Holerman

The Homeless Garden Project

or call us at: (831) 426-3609 Be an active supporter: ______$1,000. Friend of the Garden ______$ 500. Cultivator of the Garden ______$ 250. Sower of the Garden ______$ 100. Supporter of the Garden My Donation is enclosed Bill Me Bill My Visa Master Card Card No. Exp. Date Signature Name Address Daytime Telephone

P.O. Box 617 Santa Cruz, California 95061

See our Web Site: www.homelessgardenproject.org

NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE SANTA CRUZ CA PERMIT #124

PAID

CSA shares update!

Community Supported Agriculture

HIRE an HGP Graduate

We provide on-the-job training, a formal lecture series in organic horticulture and life and work skills to people who are homeless. This nationally-recognized program has created a career path for dozens of graduates since its inception in 1990. Participants develop a wide range of interests and work experience and can be in the program for three years. The training program takes place in an organic market garden that runs an 80-member Community Supported Agriculture program, plant sales and a value-added workshop that produces gift products for sale.

CSA shares are available!

Weekly basket through October 22 Eat healthy Support organic agriculture Support our local economy Support HGP's job training program Prices are pro-rated 3 ways to begin: Buy a share online Download our CSA brochure and send it in Call 426.3609.2#

Organic vegetables and fruit fresh from our farm to you!

Hiring a program graduate benefits your business with an experienced, motivated employee and creates openings for new trainees.
contact: Darrie Ganzhorn 426-3609, ext. 2#

HUMAN RACE A SUCCESS! Board members, staff and volunteers were able to
raise nearly $4,000 in the Human Race to benefit the Homeless Garden Project this year. Thank you to all of you who sponsored us!