City gives back with gardening
Community plots will help feed Beaverton's hungry
In just over two weeks, an untended portion of the Kennedy Gardens was transformed into a lush garden – the beginnings of a soon-to-be thriving field of vegetables that will help feed the hungry in the community.
On Monday, Mayor Denny Doyle, city council members, local volunteers and others gathered to ceremonially complete the Giving Gardens near 103rd and Kennedy Street, tucked between Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Canyon Road. Once the tomato, squash, potato, jalapeņo and the other organic vegetables begin to flourish, the produce will be donated to the Oregon Food Bank, St. Matthew’s Food Pantry, Sunshine Pantry and Tualatin Valley Gleaners.
As Doyle bent down to place a tomato plant – slightly dirtying his white suit pants in the process – he gave a wish of encouragement for the garden.
“No insects allowed, no birds, and I hope it does better than my garden,” he said.
Doyle planted the first seeds of the garden in the form of an idea last month. He was able to resecure the Kennedy Gardens location for at least another year after it was closed on Dec. 31 for redevelopment by the land’s owner, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. When the church’s plans were put on hold, the city was allowed to continue using the space.
He envisioned a single plot that would be maintained by a few volunteers and the city, but the idea soon took off as more and more people became involved. At the same time Rhonda Coakley, the Sexton Mountain Neighborhood Association Committee chair, was looking to create a community garden for her neighborhood.
She and her husband decided to bring all the planning work they had done and the volunteers they had corralled and put their efforts into the Giving Garden.
Now the garden plots stretch across the large field – the starter plants set to flourish and soon create a sea of color.
All the work to create the garden, from tilling to irrigating, was taken on by nearly 70 volunteers from the community, the city, the chamber of commerce and members of the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Many of these volunteers that were at the garden’s opening said they were so grateful to be a part of such an important project. Most agreed that if the garden is successful, hopefully other cities will follow Beaverton’s lead.
Cornelius’s New Leaf Greenhouse donated hundreds of starter vegetable plants. Owner Ginger Steele has been donating plants to community charities for years and decided this year to help fill the Giving Gardens.
“She sees it as a chance to help struggling families eat well,” said her daughter, Madeline Steele, who works for New Leaf. “and to experience the wonderful pleasure of growing their own food.”
Maggie Miller has been using the city’s community gardens for over a decade and was on hand to witness the opening of the Giving Gardens. She was so impressed with the work that everyone put into the vegetable garden – and its noble cause – that despite being busy with her own plot, she feels she should start giving her time.
Miller remembers thinking just recently how someone should really do something with that portion of the Kennedy Gardens that was overrun and not very well maintained. And now someone has.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “I’m really impressed with what they’ve done with it.”