F resh vegetables to eat, a patch of ground to work – these are small things to most people.
For families who experience homelessness, a garden is an impossible luxury, something for people who have a place to lay their heads at night.
Kevin North / The Herald
Gardening wasn’t something Rick and Kim Thaanum spent any time thinking about after he hurt his shoulder last year and wasn’t able to work.
Thaanum didn’t qualify for disability, and with three boys under the age of 5, the Everett couple couldn’t afford to make ends meet.
They spent three nights sleeping in the family’s Ford Escort, until one of the boys cried, telling his parents, “I never want to sleep in a car again.”
They found a place at the Interfaith Association of Snohomish County’s family shelter in Everett. There, they were encouraged to work in the shelter’s garden, a 900-square-foot patch of dirt carved from the back lawn.
| The Interfaith Association of Snohomish County welcomes donations of garden tools and gloves for adults and children, and gift certificates to garden nurseries. They could also use a wheelbarrow. Other needs include:
Extension ladder Cleaning supplies Laundry detergent Bleach Garbage bags Diapers, all sizes Meat, chicken, fish New mattresses, full and twin size String mops Dish soap Educational software for ages 2-18 Educational workbooks for kindergarten through sixtth grade Those interested in donating can call 425-252-6672 or contact the shelter coordinator Sandy Larsten at slarsten@tiasc.com. To become a member of the Interfaith Association, visit the Web site at www.interfaith.org. |
For the family, working in the garden brought a sense of normalcy.
They weeded and watered and planted. The boys ate sweet summer tomatoes straight off the vine, and sometimes Rick Thaanum plucked a handful of strawberries for their morning cereal.
The family’s experience is part of what keeps Ginny Burger going. Burger is a Snohomish County master gardener who volunteered to coordinate the shelter’s garden nearly five years ago with a $300 grant from her Edmonds church.
On a recent Sunday, half a dozen families at the shelter worked in the garden despite a steady rain, pulling weeds, putting down mulch and planting perennial pots.
Children in rain slickers and jackets with the hoods pulled up examined snails caught in a trap and squished the soggy soil through their fingertips.
The shelter is a squat red brick building in north Everett that houses an average of 10 families. An association of local churches runs the shelter, and it’s supported with grants and private donations.
At times the work is frustrating for Burger. Weeds constantly spill over from a neighboring property. Some of the residents view the garden as a chore.
Her hope is that the families living at the shelter can leave it feeling more self-reliant.
“In my dreams they would then go on to have their own tomato plants on their patios or they would know how to raise lettuce,” Burger said. “I want to make them feel as if life isn’t something done to them, that they have some control.”
She does notice a change in the families that work in the garden.
“It’s like the backbone of their souls have straightened up, and they feel like they can cope with the world,” she said.
The garden has become a steady source of fresh vegetables for the people staying at the shelter. Out of the garden last summer came pounds of tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers and pumpkins. There was so much lettuce that the leftovers were contributed to a local charity.
A Washington State University extension agent teaches classes on how to turn the produce into meals.
Former resident Thaanum said the produce was welcome. All the supplies at the shelter are donated, including the food. Fresh veggies wouldn’t normally be on the menu.
“We had a joke about canned pork,” he said.
This garden is also therapy, a chance for those living at the shelter to talk with each other about what they’ve been through, to get their hands dirty and watch something they’ve started grow.
“Many come in here wounded, hurt, with nothing to look forward to,” shelter director Jocelyn Enabulele said. “It’s good to see them light up and take charge.”
Families come to the shelter for many reasons: job loss, illness, domestic violence or substance abuse. It’s usually a combination of factors exacerbated by the lack of affordable housing in the county, Enabulele said.
Just before Christmas, Crystal Rich’s husband lost his job as a car salesman when the business unexpectedly changed hands. At the same time, their daughter needed emergency surgery. With four children all younger than 10, the family couldn’t afford the rent.
For a while they lived week to week at a motel on her paycheck of $300 a week while he watched the children. They couldn’t get ahead and eventually had to sleep in their Ford Taurus before finding the shelter through the Red Cross.
For Rich, the garden is a chance to socialize with other residents and spend time with her children.
“This is something nice to do with the kids,” she said. “It’s nice to know you can plant a seed.”
After three months of living at the shelter, Rich’s family is preparing to move to an apartment in Mill Creek.
Rich helped work in the garden recently, plunging her bare hands into a pot of soil and turning it, readying it for planting.
She won’t be here in a few months to see the results of her work. She didn’t mind doing it anyway.
“The fruits of my labor are to bless other people,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Thaanum family is out of the shelter now, living in a duplex in Lake Stevens. Rick Thaanum found work as a handyman and Kim is working at a grocery store.
They still return to help at the shelter garden. But he is planning to ask his landlord for space to start a garden of their own.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@ heraldnet.com.
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