Another Garden Story

Del City, Oklahoma

We are always pleased when we learn that one of our Good News stories has led someone to act on something we have reported.  And that is the case in Del City, Oklahoma. 

Melvin Thompson, an elder of the Del City Church of Christ, recently retired from his roofing and sheet metal business.  He read an article in Good News about the church in Clearwater, Kansas, which had planted a garden from which to provide fresh food to the needy.

With the help of Bruce Edwards, then employed by Urban Harvest, a branch of the regional food bank, he started planning the garden in October of 2010.  The Del City church had a large area not being used which they could use for the garden.  Thompson and his helpers prepared and filled with special soil an area of 60 feet by 20 feet using raised beds with gavel walkways between the beds.

They first planted the garden on February 12, 2011.  Being rather inexperienced in gardening, they experimented with many different garden vegetables.  This first year was quite a challenge because, not only was this year their first, the 2011 summer in Oklahoma was very hot and dry.  As a result, they had some good successes and some failures.

The leaders of the project developed a work force of about twenty members and were able to produce a large amount of food.  They furnished needed items for their meals on wheels program and several times a week they delivered vegetables to a housing project for the elderly.  Those who work at the garden were also allowed to take some of the product for themselves. 

The group plans to expand the garden next year, but will limit the items they grow to those most commonly used such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, radishes, and carrots.  They will also grow watermelons, cantaloupes, and pumpkins. 

There are so many different ways to serve the Lord, and we should each be finding the ways that fit our particular abilities and opportunities.

This story of how someone saw an item in Good News and decided that they could use the message of that article to develop something in their own work is an encouragement to all of us.  We hope that as everyone reads the Good News stories, they will ask, “What can I learn and apply from this article?”