At Ward AME in the Mill Creek neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA, young volunteers help plant the beds at the site of
a new community garden being created through a partnership with Urban Tree Connection. Photo courtesy of Urban
Tree Connection.
West Philadelphia for over a decade. UTC and Ward
have partnered to create a community garden on the
church’s vacant land. Emerging out of this joint venture
is the Ward AME Community Nutrition Initiative,
which, in consultation with UTC, will oversee both the
garden and congregation-led programming.
This summer, the first Ward garden crop will be
planted, and its harvest will be sold at discounted rates
on Sunday mornings and also used for cooking classes
that will be open to everyone in Mill Creek. The Ward
Garden Committee, created by members of the church
to steer the project, has been meeting throughout
winter and spring to organize clearing the lot and
building raised beds where plants will be grown.
In the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, Partners
has facilitated a partnership between United
Methodist Church SOLID ROCK umc, one of our
Strategic Investment in Sacred Places churches, and the
Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), a Philadelphiabased food justice organization whose mission is
to “plant orchards in the city of Philadelphia that
grow healthy food, green spaces, and community
Sacred Places • Spring 2013 • 8