What a Blessing

I was emotionally moved by some of the volunteers I met in the garden today. A family of four came out to help; a mom, a dad, and two kids (a girl and a boy). Ordinary so far it seems. What impressed me so much was that they were so willing to give their help to us. This family had come down from Lake Oswego for one purpose, to help at our Community Garden. They have no connections here and will probably never be back, but we were blessed with them for today. They found out about the Community Garden when their daughter was looking for colleges to attend this coming fall. Linfield was on their list. Patricia, one of our fearless garden leaders, was at a Linfield event where she was in a booth showcasing the McMinnville Community Garden when she met the daughter of this family. She convinced her to come down and volunteer at the garden. Although Linfield was not the choice of college,our garden was.

With the rain pouring down by the buckets full and the temperatures lower than usual for this time of year, this family got up, got dressed and came down to McMinnville to muck around in the mud. They helped us pull weeds, lay down straw and whatever else they were asked to do. I didn’t hear a complaint from any of them. They just steadily, together, completed the tasks that were given to them. They were still busily laying down straw on the slippery pathways when I left with my daughter to escape the miserably weather. What a family outing!


It is people like this that make our garden such an awesome place. When I am out in the garden volunteering I always feel I am part of a group of people that truly do want to make a positive difference in the world. It renews my faith in our garden, our community, our world. We are so blessed!

Thank you to all my fellow volunteers that come out to "help the hungry grow healthy".

Janet