CLEVELAND – When Joe and Barb Matney of In Memory of Community Garden and the Warrendale Community Organization in Detroit read about Project EverGreen’s Our Winning Green Space Contest last fall, they didn’t think they had much of a chance of winning.
“We entered on a lark, hoped for the best, but certainly didn’t plan on winning,” said Barb Matney, who runs these two nonprofit organizations with her husband Joe. Their two nonprofits collaborate with Detroit to transform vacant city lots into community gardens and “pocket parks.”
The Matneys’ goal for its community gardens and pocket parks serve a two-fold purpose: establish vegetable gardens to help feed residents and establish a safe place where people could connect through a common interest and get to know one another. As their efforts took root, the Matneys found they had more lots to maintain. Winning Project EverGreen’s Our Winning Green Space Contest, however, has helped the couple expand its capabilities.
“Before we were able to maintain eight properties on a weekly basis, but now with the Exmark mowers, we can handle more than 20,” she said. “Residents notice when the properties are maintained on a regular basis, and it has prompted them to take better care of their own property.”
Barb Matney said the maintained properties draw people out from behind closed blinds and get them engaged in establishing the vegetable gardens and green spaces. The proximity to being in the neighborhood is important since the closest large park with a playground is more than one mile away and that is a deterrent for getting involved. As part of the renovation, a playground will be installed in one of the pocket parks.
In addition to having a safe place to regularly play, exercise and access for fresh fruits and vegetables, both children and adults are given the chance to engage as families in these pocket parks.
“What is being offered to your community is amazing, and it gives you a chance to expand your efforts to create and maintain more green spaces,” she said. “It has helped us jump a little higher in pursuing our objectives and that means so much for so many.”
The Our Winning Green Space contest is done in partnership with Exmark Manufacturing, the Sports Turf Managers Association and the Foundation for Safer Athletic Fields for Everyone. For details on how to enter the Our Winning Green Space Contest, visit www.ProjectEverGreen.org.