In Des Moines, Iowa, a NeighborWorks network organization is gearing up to create a garden that will be "on the map," literally. The project, set to take place during NeighborWorks Week, started with a zoo conservation program called Plant, Grow, Fly, explains Daphne Christensen, director of communications and marketing for Community Housing Initiatives (CHI).
The Blank Park Zoo put together recipes for butterfly gardens, pollinator gardens and shade-tolerant gardens that businesses, individuals and nonprofits across the Midwest have embraced. While many of the gardens are centered around the Des Moines area, they stretch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Topeka, Kansas. The zoo publishes a map highlighting the gardens so communities will know where to look.
CHI's 1,000-square-foot project received a grant from NeighborWorks America. It's just one of the many projects NeighborWorks America's nearly 250 network organizations have embraced for NeighborWorks Week. Held the first week in June, NeighborWorks Week showcases how the NeighborWorks network strengthens and celebrates communities.
Team members, along with some vaccinated residents, community leaders and representatives from the zoo will work on the project on June 7, near the start of NeighborWorks Week. Christensen says CHI's communities were disappointed last year when their capstone NeighborWorks Week project – a community cleanup – was scaled down due to COVID-19. The garden brings new hope.
"Gardens big and small are vitally important," says Christensen. "I'm learning so many tidbits about how this is important to the food we eat, the air we breathe."
When community rooms were open, before COVID-19, they were often filled with individuals 55 and older who talked about gardening and shared the tomatoes they grew on their patios. "A lot of times at our properties, especially properties for seniors, the residents end up being the caretakers of the landscape," Christensen says. "This is something they truly enjoy."
Mary Jo Staniger, a resident of Valley Station, agrees. "Growing up on an Iowa farm, I learned at an early age butterflies, bees, birds and even worms are necessary for future plants and foods," she says. She's looking forward to working in the new garden. "I would enjoy sitting or walking in an environment … where the beauty of nature is being promoted, as well as knowing it is one of many steps we can take to improve and maintain our ecosystem."
During NeighborWorks Week, CHI and other NeighborWorks network organizations highlight neighborhood change and awareness through activities like this one. The events demonstrate the value of neighbors helping neighbors and, in this case, of neighbors helping the environment.
