As a small nonprofit run by a handful of volunteers, we often need to ask for help in achieving our goals! We are so grateful for all the help that we have received from the volunteer service group For Columbia, organized by several of Mid-Missouri’s Christian churches under the leadership of Shelly Mayer of The Crossing. This year, For Columbia volunteers generously helped at three Community Garden Coalition member gardens during their April 26 city-wide volunteering event.

Deer Fencing at Interfaith Garden

This year, the Interfaith Garden decided that if they ever wanted to harvest fruit from their trees, they were going to have to expand their deer fencing perimeter. In 2024, they harvested ONE pear, while the rest went to fattening up the local deer! Fortunately, the CGC had grant monies received in 2023 from the Veterans United Foundation and two local Walmarts that were earmarked for deer fencing. We agreed to pay for the materials and suggested that they ask For Columbia if they could install it. 

For Columbia volunteers J.P. Watson and Tim Leibovich had led an incredibly successful installation of deer fencing at our Unite4Health garden in 2024, and, since that garden sat on top of a buried asphalt parking lot, we figured that installing one in actual soil would be a cakewalk for these seasoned pros and their volunteers. From all accounts it was — they even cleaned up the grounds and threw in a new raised bed while they were at it. Because this garden grows food solely for donation, this means more organic fruit for the Food Bank Market!

More Raised Beds at Windsor Street Garden

For Columbia also helped out at the nonprofit Windsor Street Montessori School. In 2024, For Columbia came in with a huge crew of volunteers and completely redid the grounds to make them easier to maintain and safer for the children. This spring, they came back to spruce things up and build more raised beds for the childrens’ veggie garden.

Renewing Ash St. Garden

And, finally, the biggest job: For Columbia was critical in helping renovate the large Ash St. Community Garden. The Ash St. Garden needed to shrink its footprint by more than half at the land owners’ request, and there had been also been a serious decline in the maintenance of the area. To protect from deer, many of the gardeners had erected makeshift fencing around their individual plots which had made mowing and weed-eating difficult. Lots of abandoned fencing as well as weeds, shrubs and small trees needed to be cleared away before the garden could re-start at a smaller size and get a good deer fence around it. The need for new garden leadership was an additional challenge. 

I started a conversation with Shelly Mayer, For Columbia’s lead organizer, and, with great trepidation, Cheryl Jensen and I met Shelly and three other volunteers at the garden to see if they might be willing to take on this overwhelming task. Despite the chilly mid-January weather everyone just stood and stared at the mess in stunned silence – it’s funny now, but it wasn’t then! To our relief, Shelly and crew agreed to take it on. 

After many conversations and much planning by Shelly and our two fearless volunteer leaders, Bennett Arey and Noah Wood, the day of volunteering, April 26th arrived. With a crew of about 30 volunteers from local churches and a dozen Ash Street gardeners, we started assigning tasks. First up, was the removal of hundreds of pieces of metal from the makeshift fencing. These ranged from reusable t-posts to pieces of old beds and mattresses. Shelly had arranged with Scott Ratliff’s tree service to send in a crew with his big truck with a claw. The volunteers piled all the waste metal where it could be reached from the parking lot and they loaded it up with the claw and sold it for scrap. 

Then we moved on to untreated lumber, which Scott said the city would take without charging us. Finally the treated lumber, weeds and other unsalvageable debris went into dumpsters. The city had kindly supplied us with a big walk-in type, and Bennett paid out of his own pocket for two loads in a private dumpster. This generosity and careful sorting of materials saved us thousands of dollars in landfill fees!!!

Once again, For Columbia has come through for the Community Garden Coalition, making the board and many gardeners very happy!  

Stay tuned for part 2 of the rehabilitation of Ash Street garden. The area was cleared of the major debris, but there was plenty more to do before this garden was running again!