Submitted by Laban Gitau.
Stroke by stroke, the Community Garden project that started with the refurbishing of the old eyesore house along Veterans Drive owned by the Lake City Community Church (LC3) is nearing completion. It has been a sweet journey not just for the church fraternity, but also for the residents of this area who have suffered quietly with the sight of an unseemly, old caricature of a house.
It has metamorphosed into an amenable ambience of painted house, levelled grounds, a perimeter wall high enough to keep off crop-destroying deer, and wall murals emerging through colorful and artistic strokes of painters and artists.
Sherwin Williams have continued to extend their support to the project with donations of required paints. Four of their staff were released by the company to come and work alongside the church volunteers through a company volunteer program for women.
A member of the LC3 freely designed the flower drawing and, once again courtesy of Sherwin Williams, an artist was brought in to design a mural from the floral drawing, which the old, but now color-rehabilitated house will be colorfully emblazoned with.
Already, there is positive feedback. Mother and son, Brandi and Alex Paxton, members of the Eagle Scouts, volunteered to begin working with Alex’s troop to provide an ADA deck as well as three handicap-accessible garden beds.
So, the countdown continues to the eventual completion of the multi-pronged project that will engender a community garden of interest to neighbors and passing onlookers, a social hub for those growing vegetables, a melting pot of ideas for those meeting there and others who will be attracted by the convergence of people at the project.
