Local Non-Profits Building Community Garden Accessible For Senior Citizens

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's not far from Clifton Park in the Coldstream-Montebello neighborhood in northeast Baltimore. It's where neighbors and local non-profits are coming together to build an accessible garden for senior citizens.

It's the dream of Joyce Drake, who's working hard to make it happen.

"Our seniors are endowed with skills and abilities, experiences and wisdom, and we don't have that being poured back into our communities, our children, and our families," Drake said. "I thought it would be befitting to have seniors come back into the community through urban garden farming."

The garden is located on Abbotston St., not far from Baltimore City College.

"Civic Works is here to help me. They have been doing a marvelous job," Drake said. "They helped me with the design of the garden. We have raised flower beds so people won't have to kneel down and they can just do their work."

Students at the Park School of Baltimore helped raise $3,000 for the project.

"It's really special. It's great to see how far this lot has come from the beginning," Park School student Callie Krosin said. "And it's always nice to see Ms. Drake, and how happy she is and how thankful she is for our work."

A lot of the heavy lifting is being done by the non-profit Civic Works.

"We are about 50 percent done with this project," said Harry Kuttner, of the Civic Works community lot team. "We're going to get in some more fruit trees and some fencing with some art hanging on it, and hopefully a rain garden and a lot more shrubs, so it should...will look a lot more clean."

"The garden is for everyone, but we want seniors to manage it and cultivate it, to harvest, plant, and all those wonderful things, and be present in the neighborhood," Drake added.

The garden is a six month project. It's scheduled to open in September.

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