Carina R. Morris - St. Charles Hospital

Mara Moss - LI Community Agriculture Network- Gateway Community Garden

I feel as though my contributions to Gateway Community Gardens lie mostly in informing people about the work of LICAN. From the beginning of my internship I have been in charge of outreach to the community via phone calls, conversations with community members, creating the LICAN Facebook page and distributing flyers. I also contributed to the garden by working with the children in the Kid’s Garden. Along with Kevin Wiecks, coordinator of the Kid’s Garden, I taught children how to successfully grow their own organic produce. Furthermore we taught the children the ways in which their produce could be used in cooking.

The Gateway Community Garden is inherently an organic garden but the skills I have learned while working there this summer have crossed a variety of disciplines. Primarily I believe that working for Long Island Community Agriculture Network has enhanced my communication skills. Several times throughout my internship I had to pass out flyers in the neighborhood to advertise the gardens to community members. To my surprise, many people were reluctant or even opposed to the gardens being built in their neighborhood. I knew that the gardens would help revitalize the neighborhood but I had to convince others of this too. I also had to use my communication skills while making phone calls to the garden participants. These calls ranged from informing participants of upcoming events and volunteer opportunities to notification about their plot assignments.

In addition to developing my communication skills while working at Gateway I have also learned about organic gardening and plant science. Specifically, at one organic gardening seminar I learned how the use of newspapers laid atop of garden beds can help suppress the formation of weeds. Much of this new knowledge I acquired from actual experience, such as how I learned to soak particular seeds overnight in water so they germinate faster.

Working at the Gateway Community Gardens has helped mould how I view Unitarian Universalism and put meaning behind its seven principles. Particularly my experience at Gateway has further my understanding of the second, sixth and seventh principle. I saw the importance of the second principle – justice, equity, and dignity of every person - when I observed those living in the neighborhood where the garden is located living in less than desirable situations. I saw children who had not eaten for the entire day and other children with neglectful parents. The gardens were not only a place where these children could learn about organic gardening, the gardens acted as a place where they could escape from their home life.

Gateway also changed the way I understand the sixth principle – the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all - when I saw how great of an impact the Garden had on the community. Gateway provided people from all walks of life the opportunity to come together and share an experience. Participants in the garden were required to work with one another to make the garden successful. My belief in the seventh principle has increased dramatically from my work at Gateway. I no longer view the environment as something detached from myself and my life but as an extension of who I am. As I watched what I planted in the beginning of the summer grow and transform it became abundantly clear how much control I do have over the welfare of my surroundings.

My work at the Gateway Community Gardens has been a keystone in developing my Unitarian Universalist identity. I have realized the potential that each of the Unitarian Universalist principles possess and have come to the understanding that it is upon me to use these principles in a way to help the larger community.