In 2003, Christine Koskimaki Attalai, a member of Redeemer Lutheran’s Church Council had a dream about a garden. The dream was probably inspired by a book Christine read to her special education class at the children’s mental health centre where she worked.  Seedfolks,, by Paul Fleishman, is the story of a diverse group of adults and children who created a community garden in the midst of a housing project.  The class loved the book’s spirit of hopefulness and positive action.

 

A couple of months after reading the book to her class, Christine had a dream about a garden planted on the side of Redeemer Lutheran Church between Redeemer and St. Joan of Arc.  She told the Church Council about her dream and the members thought it would be a good idea to share the land around the church with the community. 

 

The garden began as a small project.  Three volunteers; John Paul Kleiner, Irma Giese and Christine dug a small plot on the side of the church using dirt and seeds provided by Susan Antler, a member of Redeemer and the founder of

Plant a Row/Grow a Row. The garden was weeded and watered with buckets filled in the basement sink of the church by the three volunteers.  The rather puny harvest was taken to the Daily Food Bank.

 

Each year the garden grew a little bigger, watering methods became more sophisticated with the use of an outdoor tap and hose, additional volunteers were added, and the bigger harvest was brought to the STOP.  Bridget, John Paul’s partner, created beautiful posters that attracted community partners to join the group. Members of St. Joan of Arc came on board as well.

 

With time, some of the original gardeners moved, moved on, or were no longer physically able to work in the garden.  The new expanded group of gardeners became the Garden Party.  Now the giving garden, using land from both Redeemer Lutheran and St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church, has grown from being a rather vague dream to become a wonderful interfaith and community reality

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Our Guiding Principles

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The Garden Party at Redeemer Lutheran is a giving garden dedicated to sharing healthy food with local people in need. It is sustained by a diverse group of volunteers committed to cultivating and nurturing community, stewardship and learning through gardening.

 

The following are the Guiding Principles for The Garden Party

 

1. The only requirement for Garden Party membership is a desire to garden.

2. Personal growth in the garden stems from our unity.

3. Our leaders are but trusted stewards; they do not govern.  For our garden group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority – our group conscience.

4. The Garden Party is autonomous and not-for-profit.

5. The Garden Party has but one primary purpose – to share healthy food with local people in need.

6. The Garden Party will not endorse, finance or lend The Garden Party name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. The Garden Party is a non-denominational group of volunteers.

8. The Garden Party may create action groups (e.g., the Water Warriors) directly responsible to those they serve.

9. The Garden Party has no opinion on unrelated issues; hence The Garden Party name ought not to be drawn into public controversy.

10. Our collective spirit of gardening should always remind us to place principles before personalities.