Community helps girls plant seeds of success

Community volunteer Dori Devoe works in the Sanctuary Garden, which has been helping local girls learn life skills in a safe environment for the last two-plus years through the efforts of urban ministry Kids of Growth. (Contributed photo)
Community volunteer Dori Devoe works in the Sanctuary Garden, which has been helping local girls learn life skills in a safe environment for the last two-plus years through the efforts of urban ministry Kids of Growth. (Contributed photo)

Shop and support

Those interested in purchasing the girls’ fresh vegetables are welcome to call 617-8400. Kids of Growth leaders hope to eventually sell the produce at the Main Street Farmers Market.

photo Dori Devoe has designed various patterns in the beds at Sanctuary Garden to beautify the land for the girls and community visitors. (Contributed photo)

Tucked away just behind the exit from Highway 27 onto M.L. King Boulevard, the Sanctuary Garden has been giving local girls a safe place to grow relationships and life skills for just over two years.

But one local woman has been showing how community involvement in the project can help the garden - and the girls - truly blossom.

Since becoming a regular at the garden, owned by urban ministry Kids of Growth, Westside resident Dori Devoe has left her mark in more ways than one, said ministry director Amy Farlett.

Using her creative eye, the Westside woman has decorated many of the garden's 23 beds with designs ranging from a star to a smiley face. Devoe's true impact, however, has come from the mentorship she's provided the garden's 10 young workers, who are students at Orchard Knob Middle School, Howard School of Academics and Technology and Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy.

Kids of Growth volunteers have been working to cultivate a bond with the girls involved in the ministry, but Farlett said having someone from their own community who "talks their talk" has been more meaningful.

"She's walked through a lot of the same struggles that these girls have, so to have someone within that sphere of influence has been so hugely impact on these girls," Farlett said.

The girls have interacted with other community members who occasionally work at the garden or attend the ministry's Bible study group, but having a regular volunteer with them in the garden is special - much like the garden itself.

Each year, the girls grow fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and squash, as well as flowers like daises and snapdragons. The work teaches them responsibility not only by showing them how to tend to the plants, but also by letting them decide what to do with their produce, which they divide into portions to sell and portions to give away to neighbors in need.

photo Sanctuary Garden on M.L. King Boulevard. (Contributed photo)
photo Dori Devoe has designed various patterns in the beds at Sanctuary Garden to beautify the land for the girls and community visitors. (Contributed photo)

The overall goal of the garden, however, is to give the girls a place where they can escape the issues they may be facing at school or in their neighborhood and build character and leadership skills that could help steer them toward success.

"They talk about how their grades are getting so much better than they were a couple years ago and relationships seemed to have improved and those kinds of things," Farlett noted. "Not that we take all the credit for that; it's part of the maturing process. But it's been fun to watch the girls become grounded and rooted in their faith and just kind of blossom and develop from there."

One of the things Farlett said has kept most of these girls coming back to the garden is the draw of strong relationships made with the other girls and with community members like Devoe. Farlett said she hopes to see more locals drop by to lend a helping hand or a green thumb.

"It's a privilege to go outside my box and do something that makes people smile," said Devoe. "Hopefully, more people will start coming out."

To find out how you can get involved, visit kidsofgrowth.wordpress.com.

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