St. Andrew's Reimagines Mission with a Good News Garden

Jen Greene, St. Andrew's, Longmeadow

In our work of reimagining mission at St. Andrew’s, and in response to social distancing while wanting to help our neighbors, we decided to start a Good News Garden. Longmeadow provides some open land for residents to garden. Our parish was able to secure 1,000 square feet of a tilled, sunny plot in the Community Garden for a very small annual stipend. This plot gives our parishioners a chance to connect with others in a COVID-safe way, while growing food for others. We are partnering with Rachel’s Table, a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, to distribute everything we grow to local food pantries, soup kitchens, and other feeding programs.

This new mission ministry in our community can feed the hungry, partner with local community organizations, and engage local gardeners, and best of all, call our parish back to the earth.

We began with a core group of church volunteers who gathered supplies, solicited donations, planted the starter plants, set up the irrigation system, laid down mulch and weed control, fertilized the plot, and pruned plants as needed.

We provide the parish with weekly updates in the church bulletin and regularly ask for help with the weeding and donations of lawn mower clippings for mulch and weed control.

Another benefit of this project is increased visibility and outreach for our parish. Each time we visit the garden plot, we talk to the other local residents tending their plots. We always make new friends, talk about the church and its various ministries, and even have donations coming in from outside our parish. Many of the gardeners don’t use all of the produce they grow and are delighted to learn about donating their extra vegetables to our distributor. It’s a big win all around.

This is our first year with this ministry and we’re very excited about the possibilities for service and outreach. We’ll learn a lot these first few years, and we’re off to a great start. ♦