REP: Educating, Empowering, and Paving the Way

Meeting the educational needs of refugee children and families 

 

Camela Echols Blackmon, known as “Cam,” is a native Memphian. She got her start working as a social service director for the United Methodist Neighborhood Centers running a thrift store and distributing food baskets and clothes to those in need. Although she worked well with the community, she felt called to do much more than hand out food and clothes. Feeling the call to empower others toward self-sufficiency, she remembers the quote “Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”

Cam’s work with refugees began when she met a lady named Ruth Lomo. Ruth is a Sudanese refugee who settled in the Binghampton area in 2001 with a goal to educate and empower other refugees to lead successful, non-dependent lives. Cam connected with Ruth while Ruth was in search of a place to hold her after school program. At the time, Cam worked in a facility that had available space and Ruth began to use the facility. It was through the sharing of Ruth’s stories as a refugee coming to America that Cam discovered her true passion and joined forces with Ruth to create an empowerment program for refugees.

During our time together, Cam shared a story of an encounter with a refugee mother who could not speak English but was able to gesture what she was in need of. After listening to the woman’s needs, Cam sent her home with toiletries and other household items. Excited about the connection she had made with the woman, Cam shared her encounter with Ruth. Although Cam had made a bond and established a rapport with the lady, Ruth explained the importance of encouraging the mother to enroll in English classes which would enable her to get a job and eventually provide for her family on her own.

Ruth, Cam, and a volunteer by the name of Rachelle Pichardo continued this work of advocating, educating, and bringing awareness in the Memphis schools to the educational needs of the children and their families. In 2002, they began an after-school program with 12 Sudanese, Somalian, and Afghani refugee children. The program soon involved to include ESL (English as a Second Language) and Pre-GED courses for parents of the children.

Years later, they began searching for a location where those who were part of the program could have easy access and walk to the location. In 2007, R.E.P. (Refugee Empowerment Program) moved into a then newly-renovated place known as The Commons, a shared space operated by the Center for Transforming Communities, where they have remained. Since its initial start in 2002, R.E.P. has grown from a 12-child after-school program to one that has educates 350 plus refugees comprised of more than 20 different nationalities. 100% of its 18 high school graduates went on to pursue post-secondary education or trade school.

When asked about the future of R.E.P., Cam envisions it as a program for refugees run by refugees. Moving forward, she wishes to establish a transitional school where refugee youth would spend 18-24 months mastering core academic skills such as English and math to better prepare them for success in the public school system.  R.E.P. continues to remain a safe place where all, regardless of religion, nationality, language, or tribe affiliation can come, learn, be empowered, and empower and strengthen others.


If you'd like to learn more, consider joining REP and other partners at The Commons on Merton (258 N. Merton) for an Open House on Dec. 2 from 6pm to 8pm.  Here is the invitation.

This story was contributed by Shalom Intern, Kory Turner a student at Drew Theological Seminary.

The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

Celebrating the strength of coming together at The Commons

There are 21 stained glass windows at The Commons. It’s one of the perks of working here. Walking along corridors, up stairwells, into and out of the old sanctuary – Just about everywhere I go there are stained glass windows

.
Sometimes in the late afternoon the light comes through the largest window in the sanctuary and leaves a cascade of soft red and gold and green along the floor and walls. I’ve tried several times to catch this on camera, but the pictures don’t quite do it justice.

And now that daylight savings time has passed, it’s dark when I leave, so I’ve begun to notice just how vibrant our stained glass windows are from the outside. Staff and volunteers at the Refugee Empowerment Program teach ESL classes well into the night, and the stained glass windows in their third floor classrooms shine brightly in greens and reds and purples over Binghampton.

To most people, stained glass windows are associated with church. And of course that’s why we have so many at The Commons. The building we call “The Commons on Merton” was once Everett Memorial United Methodist Church, an anchor of the Binghampton community for almost 100 years.

But, as their membership dwindled and the neighborhood around them changed, the leaders of Everett Memorial made a very courageous decision which resulted in a reimagining of what it means to be “church.” In the early 2000s, they gave up their church building to become The Commons, a shared space community that currently houses 5 nonprofits, 3 churches of various denominations, a food pantry, a local artist’s studio, and a handful of study groups and neighborhood organizations.

In the 6 months that I’ve been with the Center for Transforming Communities, I’ve gotten to know each of these groups – learned about their histories, personalities, and goals. Each one is different, distinct, but each one is also part of a whole, part of The Commons.

In that sense, each group at The Commons is like a pane in a stained glass window. Each is unique, with its own shape and color and texture, but when assembled together they form a pattern that is
infinitely more beautiful than they could hope to be on their own.

This year, the partners at The Commons have agreed to come together for an open house event benefiting the 5 nonprofit partners. Door of Hope, Memphis School of Servant Leadership, Refugee Empowerment Program, Memphis Immigration Advocates, and Center for Transforming Communities are pooling their resources and inviting all of their friends to visit The Commons, learn about the organizations that call this building home, and donate to support our shared vision for improving the Memphis community.
 
I hope you’ll stop by this Giving Tuesday (December 2nd, from 6:00pm-8:00pm) for food, music, and a tour of The Commons.  Because of the generosity of some of our past supporters, we will be able to match any donations given on Giving Tuesday and through the end of the year 2 to 1 – meaning that your $25 will become $75, or your $50 will become $150. What better way to celebrate the holidays than to give back to support five wonderful organizations working to make Memphis a better place for all of us?

For more information about The Commons or our Giving Tuesday Open House, feel free to contact me at kenny@ctcmidsouth.org or 901-324-3005.

We Come

A creative expression of Binghampton United Methodist Church

An original poem by Kory N. Turner, Shalom Intern

Sometimes broken, sometimes weary
But we come

Binghampton United Methodist Church

Sharing the value of the human experience
We come

We come bringing our gifts with prayers we lift
Our hearts to one another

Laying aside our titles, moving beyond our age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status,
We come.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ
Striving together to do God’s will

We come
Breaking through the darkness
Acknowledging the light that’s deep within each of us

Binghampton United Methodist Church

We come
With hearts full of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing

We come and we gather at the table
For a love feast that binds us
Together as one

We come
So that ALL
Might be able to come




Binghampton United Methodist Church is one of the partners housed at The Commons of Merton.
They worship every Saturday at 4:30pm at 258 N. Merton followed by a community dinner. 

Come!

Writer:  Kory N. Turner
Kory is a seminary students at Drew Theological Seminary. 
He is serving as a Shalom Intern at Center for Transforming Communities this summer.

Servant Leadership: Living, Loving, and Learning in Community

Making a difference through radical love and inclusion

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of sitting down and talking with Floridia Jackson, a Memphis native who has most recently become the Director of the Memphis School of Servant Leadership. Floridia has been active with this school for several years. She started off with The School while in seminary. At the time, she was seeking a group of people that were “like-working” in that they shared in a common mission to make a difference in the world through radical love and inclusion, and work against oppression and other injustices. She was encouraged to move forward in this mission in the classes that she took on “the call” and “racism to reconciliation” at Memphis School of Servant Leadership.

Floridia Jackson, Director,
Memphis School of Servant Leadership

According to Floridia, the Memphis School of Servant Leadership is a school that seeks to “raise up Christian servant leaders for the church and the world.” All classes are free as the school recognizes that not everyone might be able to pay. Each individual in the classroom, whether teacher or student, are on a journey together. The teachers are referred to as companions instead of facilitators/teachers to reflect this principle.

Instead of a board of directors, the Memphis School of Servant Leadership has what is referred to as a ‘mission group’. In addition to managing the business and order of the school, this group meets together for spiritual development. The mission group gathers every two weeks to pray with each other about the direction the school should be going, shifts and changes in their personal lives as a result of their connection to the school, and ways in which spirit is calling them to work against oppressive and racist structures.

Floridia has enjoyed being a partner in The Commons, the shared space operated by Center for Transforming Communities. Every day at the office provides an opportunity to experience the God in others, be it someone reminding her of what’s going on in God’s global world, updates on the work other partners of The Commons are doing in the community, or an African woman nursing her child as she waits for her two other children who are in the Refugee Empowerment Program classes, reminding her of the way in which God loves and nurtures us.

In her own words, Floridia states that “Community is when we stop to pause, to see, to witness that God-life, God-force/energy in one another.” Imagine a world where people acknowledge and carry out the call to serve and live in true community. This is the work that is being done through the Memphis School of Servant Leadership.

Namaste’ (The divine in me acknowledges the divine in you)

Author:  Kory N. Turner

Kory is a seminary students at Drew Theological Seminary.  He is serving as a Shalom Intern at Center for Transforming Communities this summer.

It's All About Sharing Experience, Knowledge, Love, and Making Friends

Carl Awsumb was so excited on that Saturday in July, when more children showed up than ever before.  With fifteen to twenty children and few adults it was almost too much of a good thing.  They picked one hundred pints of blackberries – the most ever – and sold them at a local Farmers’ Market with the help of Grow Memphis. 

Cleaning and sorting the tomatoes, beans and okra for the cartons.

One might think it is the profit share of up to five dollars an hour that keeps the children from the local Binghampton neighborhood coming back to McMerton Gardens early every Saturday morning.   But it is so much more.  You can see it in the faces of the children and the volunteers hoeing, weeding and harvesting the beautiful fruits and vegetables.  There is a pride in the product, an enthusiasm in the friendships, and an energy for being and working together.

When Carl began this work in 2007  he only knew that he had been so blessed in his own life that he wanted to share that privilege.  His vision has drawn volunteers from the surrounding area – wealthy and poor, young and not-so-young, from disparate neighborhoods and cultures.  He strongly feels that if he can invite people together that are normally on “different sides of the equation” that perspectives will change.  It has proven true.  Friendships have formed around the tasks and the time together. 

Billy Vaughan is one of the adult volunteers that help to cultivate the six garden plots scattered around the twenty block neighborhood.  Billy often testifies to the joy each child brings to the Gardens, and it is evident as he picks up a handful of tools and walks alongside a little girl the few blocks to the next garden.  She chats away about how she has started school this week and can’t wait to go back on Monday.

Vaughan and some of the children.

Indeed, McMerton Gardens is a vibrant Community of Shalom with all kinds of seeds being planted and harvested.

- Kristi Estes-

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact Kristi@ctcmidsouth.org.

Does rugged individualism limit our ability to build community?

Possibilities through the lens of a Kenyan ministry

This week I had the pleasure of a visit from Stanley Gitari Imunya and Mary Karimi Gitari of Kenya.  Our mutual acquaintance, Susan Hillebert, organized our meeting believing that our respective work, though 8,000 miles apart, had much in common and that there are things we can learn from each other.

Indeed, I was very intrigued about the work of Zoe Ministries which uses community as the basic building block that nurtures the ability of aids orphans to become self-sufficient.   When orphans are accepted into the three-year program, they are formed into supportive communities of about 80 children that work the tenants of the program as they also show care, support and compassion for each other.  The stories of the children’s generosity and the way they make decisions that care for the whole of the community and the least among them impressed me.  Click here to read an example story. 

Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) also uses the basic building block of community in our mission to strengthen and renew neighborhoods across the Midsouth.   As we finished our conversation, I shared with Stanley that I was eager to learn more.  What are the tools, the processes, the methods that Zoe Ministries uses to bring the children together in community and foster such deep generosity and selflessness? 

 

My question seemed to puzzle Stanley and I realized that I was not going to get his handbook on building community.  I realized, upon reflection, that what I wanted to know did not need special methods and processes in Stanley’s culture.  What I wanted Stanley to share with me were tools for countering the North American culture of individualism, competition and scarcity.  I was hoping for tools that would move a group of people from seeing themselves as individuals with self-interests to protect to seeing themselves as a community, a collective, interdependent, where the well-being of the whole is represented by the well-being of the least among them.

As Peter Block, author of Abundant Community, writes, “Caring for our community and convening citizens to care for their community is difficult work. We are working against the whole tide of the dominant culture which worships individualism, self-interest, and competition.”  

Although Stanley cannot teach CTC and the Shalom Zones how to build community in a society rooted in rugged individualism,  there is still much we can learn from the way he, Mary and the Zoe Ministries ‘seek shalom’ for the orphans in their country.  And, Stanley and Mary were interested to know more about how community and cooperation is fostered through CTC in the Shalom Zones and at The Commons.

Peter Block goes on to write that even though you will not see it much in the news, initiatives like Communities of Shalom and other citizen-based initiatives are creating a surging “movement toward interdependence, generosity, and cooperation that is changing the world.”

I hope you will join us in this movement!  Read the stories of community posted throughout this blog.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ctcmidsouth.org.  Sign up for our enewsletter where you can find out about more ways to be involved.

- Amy Moritz -

Please share your comments below or at info@ctcmidsouth.org.

Developing eyes to see what God sees

Prayer Walking: a practice for shalom-seekers in the neighborhood

This is the third Lenten season that The Corners of HighlandHeights Community of Shalom has coordinated a weekly prayer walk in their community.  Each Tuesday they meet at a different church in Highland Heights and the surrounding area.  From their starting point, they walk in small teams to the school, along the commercial corridor, and in residential pockets where gangs and violence are threatening the neighborhood.

I joined them this past Tuesday as they walked, met shopkeepers along Summer, and prayed for the welfare of the community. 

I was first introduced to prayer walking through a seminary class called ‘engaged spirituality’ where I learned about Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk.  Click here to learn more.  Some of my riches moments of being in God’s presence are the times that I walk with prayerful intent, slowing down, and becoming mindful to both my surroundings and to God.   

During these times I become so present to the world around me that I see things that I would not normally see.  One of the things that happens quite often and gives me great joy is seeing a four leaf clover, among a patch of clover, along the path as I walk.   This clover sighting means for me that I have slowed down enough, and become present enough to God’s creation, to know and experience that God is with me. 

As I walked along the south side of Summer Avenue (west of Highland) this week, there was no clover.  There were no people on the street and most of the old store fronts had padlocked doors and windows that had been covered over so that one could not see in.  On first look, this was a place devoid of life, empty and vacant. 

Someone suggested that we walk along the backside of the row of stores.  Here we found shopkeepers, open doors, and lots of beautiful and colorful displays!  I was particularly struck by the diversity and nationalities represented by the shopkeepers, each proprietor originating from a different continent.  Some were new to the country and new to business ownership eagerly hopeful that their business would support their family.  Some stores were decades old and determined to hold on, even among the age of big box retail and chains.  

The four leaf clovers for me this day were the uniquely beautiful shopkeepers, their hopes and aspirations, and the ways in which they sought to serve the community through their stores (thrift store, pharmacy, low cost goods, etc.). 

The purpose of prayer-walking in a shalom zone is to seek God's guidance, mercy, and transforming power—both for the community, and for ourselves as God's servants in the community. 

Seeking to experience God’s eyes, ears and heart for the neighborhood, The Corners Shalom Team will be reflecting together in the coming weeks about what has been seen and experienced through the weekly prayer walks.    

The key question will be “how are we being shaped as God’s agents for shalom in this community?”

- Amy Moritz -

You can find many resources on the internet for organizing a prayer walk in your community.  This guide provides instructions and questions for reflecting upon the experience.

Please share your comments below or at info@ctcmidsouth.org.

Gardening tools in place of firearms?

Community gardens could be social and economic game changers

About six years ago, Carl Awsumb read a front-page article in a Memphis newspaper about the amount of violent crime in the city and how it seems that practically everybody was buying a firearm and learning how to use it.

“I was so horrified by that,” he recalls.

That article was the necessary catalyst prompting Carl to nurture the growth of new found neighborliness through work on a community garden.

He was nearing retirement and eager to use his time to support the city he loves.  The garden, which was started as a raised bed in the parking lot of The Commons in Binghampton, seemed like a logical place to combat the negative perceptions and realities people seem all too eager to highlight in the city.

“Sometimes people are worried about what they’re going to do in retirement and I realize I had the easiest transition of anybody I knew,” Carl says, and he began to recruit others like him to help.

Today, a core of about 10 people contribute to the work and Carl sees people from all backgrounds that live in the neighborhood connecting with each other over the primal experience of growing food together, and realizing some modest economic benefits.

The group soon understood that to have the greatest impact they would need to engage young people and offer modest financial incentives.  Two years ago they began paying small amounts during harvest time — a dollar a pint for Cherry tomatoes, for example, that the children would then see sold at market for $3.

“Then we could start the whole dialogue about what you do with the other $2, for next Saturday, next season, next year,” Carl says.

In months when there is no harvest, there is a heap of work to do and a flat rate of $5 per hour is paid to people helping prepare for the next season.

“It gives us a chance to talk to them about the meaning of work and what they’re going to do with that $5,” Carl says.

Everyone understands that funds are limited and the money will not last, yet if they want to reap the benefits of next harvest, they can decide to continue working after the funds dry up.

It has not been easy to bring everyone together, he admits. Mistrust still exists between different groups of people in parts of the city, yet progress is being made as the initiative continues to expand.

The more Carl learns, the more he says he believes that urban agriculture could be an answer to many of the problems facing cities today, both economically and socially.

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Competition gives way to cooperation in Hickory Hill

Diverse group comes together for community transformation  

 

Dianne Love at quarterly Shalom Gathering

If the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) is a spark to help ignite strengths and gifts in neighborhoods of Memphis, then the collaborative spirit Dianne Love sees in Hickory Hill is a sign of that fire burning brighter every day.

Competition gives way to cooperation in this part of Memphis as people from all walks of life gather under the auspices of Communities of Shalom to envision what is possible in the neighborhood while working together to make that vision a reality.

The Making it Happen Shalom Zone and its team of dedicated volunteers offer enrichment programs for youth and opportunities for adults to map their own assets and discover new paths in life. Dianne says what encourages her most is the fact that everyone is working together to achieve a common goal.

People tend to be territorial, she says, but in her Shalom Zone they have pushed aside any thought of ownership in the transformation process to focus on the strengths and assets of all partners and community members.

“We are from all walks of life at first contact,” Dianne says of the team of volunteers, noting that when the group first got together it was associated foremost with Capleville United Methodist Church.

 

“Over time, as we have worked these programs, the thing that is encouraging to me is that we have merged across the lines of denominations,” she says, and several churches and community organizations are working together.

The work is not about what is best for the agenda of individual partner organizations, she says. The focus is entirely on what is best for the neighborhood, and that focus is attracting more interest all the time.

"We’re having more and more people and organizations who want to join and be partners," she says. A growing relationship with the Police Department adds another layer of depth to the work of transformation in the neighborhood, for example.

Dianne was recruited by the CTC to the Communities of Shalom as president of the Parent Teacher Association at her children's school, and is site director for the Making it Happen Shalom Zone.

When asked about the greatest assets she sees in the group and the work it is doing to help catalyze change, she says it can be seen in the lack of competition among many partners. 

The partners “want what’s best for the community, at any cost," she says. "What can we do to make the community whole? What kind of resources can we offer to the community?"

Though times are tough, Dianne sees enrichment programs connecting the assets of youth and adults alike, and a diverse team of people are all offering skills to back these programs up.

"We kind of have our own niches of what we do . . . and as we put together those parts, it makes a whole," Dianne says.

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Photo courtesy of www.focusforthegood.org.

Powerful conversations for Memphis’ Carl Awsumb

"I’m excited by what’s going on in this city"

One of the first questions posed to the gathering of 300 community members in Memphis on Nov. 14 urged attendees to consider the gifts they have to offer of themselves, and that introspective concept sits in Carl Awsumb’s mind as he looks back at what inspired him most during the event.

“I thought that was a very, very powerful way to bring you to the present moment,” Carl says.

“I’m as guilty as a lot of people are of thinking in terms of what I’ve done to help me define myself, and I think this conference helped me realize that there were lots of strings attached to that.”

A week later, he attended a meeting hosted by Latino Memphis, and though he knew nobody in the room he found he was able to instantly connect with people by using the same question of gifts to begin conversations.

Carl, a retired architect, spearheaded the creation of a community garden network in Binghampton, and through this work he has become entwined with community development and the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC).

Carl Awsumb (left) at Farmers Market

The CTC organized the Nov. 14 event and invited guests from across the Memphis area to hear from three community development thought leaders, and learn from each other.

People “maybe overlook the main gifts that they’ve got,” Carl says, but those gifts took center stage and the energy he felt, especially from within the young people in the room, was exciting.

“The thing that really knocked me off my comfort seat was the number of teenagers who were able to stand up and articulate so clearly,” he says.

“It was amazing to listen to these young people.”

It can be easy for people to become isolated, Carl adds, and the meeting was “the best forum that I can think of to allow people to really interact across age and ethnicity and income.”

It was a pleasant new conversation, far outside the traditional views of conventional Memphis media and the many citizens there who are all too eager to highlight the city’s shortcomings.

The crossroads the city is at today, and has been at for some time, is the choice of a new dialogue of possibility.

I left that conference thinking, ‘You know, I don’t have the financial support, but I’ve got the emotional support of all these people,” he says. “We came together and there was a collective force there that gave me the strength to carry on.

“I’m excited by what’s going on in this city.”

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.
Photo courtesy of www.focuseforthegood.org

The antidote to isolation in Memphis

‘There’s much more of a feeling of knowing your neighbors,’
says musician

There is something to be said for a community where neighbors know each other and wave from their front porches to passersby as twilight invites post-supper strolls.

It makes for a comfortable place to call home, and it is part of the reason why Anthony Gilbert was drawn to the Memphis neighborhood of Binghampton, where he’s lived for about a year now.



“In Binghampton, as opposed to other parts of the city, there’s much more of a feeling of knowing your neighbors,” Anthony says, pointing to the diversity of the neighborhood as part of its charm.

In the neighborhood where he grew up, “people have forgotten that cultural knowledge of what it means to be part of a community,” he adds. “It has disappeared over the last generation or two.”

Anthony is a classically-trained musician specializing in violin and viola who finds in Memphis the freedom to pursue his art within a well-established underground music scene where people aren’t looking for or expecting fame, just a place to explore their passion.

After moving to Binghampton, he entered The Commons on Merton with no knowledge of The Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) and its quest to foster connections among partners and their work building a stronger community.

He needed a space to work other than his house, which holds far too many distractions to tempt him away from focusing entirely on his music, and The Commons had space. He also supplements his income teaching eager music students, so it helps to be connected to the network The Commons offers.

Today, almost a year after joining The Commons, the sound of Anthony’s viola or violin is often heard echoing off the walls of the old church building — a sound he hopes is welcomed by his neighbors.

He teaches a steady stream of students, which pay on a sliding scale depending on what they can afford, and he’s part of the larger Commons, if only as one person amidst many adding to the mosaic of change in the neighborhood.

There’s a lot of work to do in a city where more than a quarter of the population live at the poverty line, but at The Commons and through the work of its partners, change is happening one step at a time.

“I’m not saying that Binghampton is a paradise,” Anthony says. “People are still suspicious of each other on some level, and I think that’s just an ingrained habit, but I think certainly what’s happening in Binghampton is the antidote; it’s the start of something.”

Anthony’s hope is that his contribution and the gift of his music is a welcomed part of the transformation taking place in Memphis.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News

‘Our diversity is a gift,’ says Rev. Billy Vaughan

Collaborative spirit spills into streets of Binghampton

The collaborative spirit among partners at The Commons on Merton is a wonderful thing to be a part of, says Rev. Billy Vaughan, but what really excites him is when he sees that spirit spill out onto the streets connecting all sorts of people and families in the diverse neighborhood.

“There’s a spiritual thing that takes place in the neighborhood because of what’s going on in the building,” Billy says. “You’d be amazed if you’re in the neighborhood for a few days, some of the ripple effects you see.

“The ‘us and them’ stuff begins breaking down, not only within The Commons, but within the larger neighborhood. You see so many different types of people in and out of there, out in the parking lot, interacting in the streets; it just has really a spiritual effect on the neighbourhood.

“It says our diversity is a gift. It’s not something where we need to be suspicious of each other; it’s a real gift of grace.”

A fall Saturday in McMerton Gardens

This is how a true community is built, he says, pointing to the first of a series of community gardens that have sprung up in the neighborhood as an example of what this new collaborative spirit looks like in tangible terms.

The garden was originally in the parking lot of The Commons overlooking a duplex building across the street and a vacant lot that was never very well-kept.

The people organizing that modest little garden called the duplex’s owner and offered to care for his property in exchange for use of the space to plant a garden for all to use.

“The owner shrugged and said, ‘Oh, what the hell, go ahead and do it,’ ” Billy recalls.

“Now there is this wonderful community garden there and it draws some of the kids from the refugee program, some of the African-American kids from the neighborhood and volunteers from Rhodes College and the University of Memphis’ graduate program in nutrition.”

The interaction among this group is a beautiful thing to witness, he says. 

They’re sharing chores and vegetables, stories and experience, and whether or not they know it they’re sharing space in the transition to a new economy of hope, built upon the gifts of all community members.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photos courtesy of Focus for The Good