Why "Meet You at the Garden"
Two years ago, the LOT Project decided to adjust the goal of one of our programs. The Artisan Gardens is a space for our Alphabet street neighbors to come and get free fresh produce, grown in their backyard. It was used and appreciated, but we felt we didn’t truly know the hands picking our produce. It was this desire to better serve the community by getting to know their needs that started “Meet You at the Garden” in 2023. Here, kids of all ages can come and play at our community garden, receive a snack, and participate in a Bible study with small groups. When the program first started only two years ago, 2-3 kids attended regularly. Now the program has grown to 25-30 kids each week. This growth has happened organically and far more quickly than was expected-- this growth goes to show just how needed the program is. Childcare is expensive and hard to come by for many families, and especially families who may lack a local support system. The time we spend pouring into kids for an hour and a half at the gardens is an hour and a half that parents have to themselves. It’s an opportunity to have a moment to breathe for single parents. For parents who can barely keep up with work and parenting, it’s a chance to catch up on house chores, or to go get groceries alone.
Meet You at the Gardens has provided an opening for The LOT Project to fill in gaps in needs our families are experiencing. Though Meet You at the Gardens is a children’s program, it has given us an opportunity to hear the needs of families in the Alphabet Streets. When you demonstrate love for a community’s children, you show a commitment to that community’s future. Meet You at the Gardens has allowed The LOT Project to become an invaluable resource parents trust and know they can reach out to in any circumstance to receive support. That support comes in various forms; it can look like driving someone to a pediatrician appointment with their child, connecting a family to fair lending programs, or watching kids for an hour so a parent can make it to an appointment on their own.
The Lopez family is a great example of why our community gardens matter. When they arrived in Anderson a year and a half ago, Maria, a mother of three children, was fleeing domestic violence with her two kids and one on the way. The man who she came to stay with ended up acting out the same story as her previous partner. When a neighbor reported him for abuse and he was arrested, she found herself in a tough situation. While her living circumstances were now more physically safe, she was left wanting an income to provide for her now three children under the age of five. Without a support system in South Carolina, she was unsure where to turn. Through building a relationship with her children, we had a window into their family’s situation. Because of the trust we had built through consistency and love poured into the lives of her children, Maria felt able to reach out for help. Through our network of Anderson resources and partners, especially Family Promise, Maria was able to have her rent covered for two months as she adjusted and planned for the future.
While there’s never an easy solution to difficult life changes, our connection has provided Maria with resources she can now access as a single mother. Even as recently as today, a staff member spent an hour giggling at animal pictures in a dentist office with Maria’s two year old as they waited for his appointment. Gardening and access to healthy food is wonderful, but moments like these, where someone chooses to show up and care for their neighbor during trials, are the most rewarding. That is what we are asking of you: show up and care. Our people are worth it.
Email Ian.Morel@thelotproject.com if you would like to get plugged in with Meet You at The Garden.
Written by Sophie Morel.