Lakeside Men’s Shelter’s Community Garden Creates a Sense of Neighborhood
On the corner of E. 23rd Street and St. Clair Avenue, where there was once a vacant gravel lot, there is now a rich, flourishing garden. 2009 marks the fourth year that 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter’s Community Garden has been in existence. During that time, approximately 15 churches, youth groups and businesses have donated time or money to the project. Last year alone, 25 shelter residents and 150 outside volunteers worked side by side in the garden.
“The garden helps to create a sense of neighborhood,” said Lydia Bailey, coordinator of volunteers for 2100 Lakeside. “The flowers and vegetables are a source of ongoing conversation - garden tips - for those walking and driving by. It brings the shelter men and those who live and work close by together in conversation.”
In 2005, when Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry began administering the shelter, staff and board met with local stakeholders to discuss ways to enhance relationships with neighboring businesses and residents and give a new perspective on homelessness. A garden seemed like the perfect opportunity to build right relationships in community while also providing a therapeutic environment for the shelter residents.
A group of volunteers led by Emily Barnett, with help from Maurice Small from Cleveland Botanical Garden, began the initial work of clearing out the lot, creating beds and planting the first round of seeds. In 2007, Dana Owen, senior project landscape architect for Floyd Browne Group, with other volunteers from her prior employer, The Pattie Group, donated their skills and resources. The volunteers and residents worked in partnership cleaning out debris, pulling weeds, building raised garden beds and prepping soil.
“I was impressed with how intelligent and sensitive [the residents] were,” says Owen. “[The men] need a little grounding, and what can be more grounding than plants? I think they take refuge in the landscape as well.”
A mural now graces the adjoining wall of the garden, adding even more color and appeal. It was created in 2008 by residents with the help and guidance of Erin, an Ursuline College art student performing her fieldwork at the shelter. However, the Community Garden is not only a place of beauty and sanctuary. The garden provides fresh produce to enhance the 1,000 meals that 2100 Lakeside serves daily. And at the end of the year, gift baskets of produce are assembled by the residents and distributed to local businesses.
The garden—like every living, thriving thing—needs continuous work and maintenance. For more information or to volunteer, contact Lydia Bailey at 216-566-0047, ext.136 or LBailey@lutheranmetro.org.