Food

When I’m in a large crowd of people, I often think about how people need to eat three meals a day. If we think about everyone on the planet, it’s a lot of food. There should be enough for everyone but there’s not. I work in a part of Rochester that has a challenged population. People are living below the poverty line, they have to rely on very unreliable mass transportation, and there are no groceries stores within walking distance. There are stores that sell processed foods and sugar.

We took the admonition from Jesus to Peter to “feed my sheep” literally. At St. Mark’s and St John’s on Culver road we are gardeners. We grow vegetables at seven gardens within walking distance from the church and then give away the produce to the neighbors. Our priest says we are saving the world one tomato at a time.

The gardens are also a place to connect. They are a place where we can leave knitted items for people to find and take home. They are a place to gather and revel in the harvest.

The children in the neighborhood think that the garden is magic. Food appears out of the ground and they can pick a bean and eat it. They see how hard the volunteers work to grow food for them and they realize, they matter.

Just one tomato at a time. We can change the world.