local gardens of hope
April 22, 2008
The New York Times calls the products of the Garden Project--the fruits and
vegetables-- "metaphors for what went wrong in a prisoner's troubled past,
lessons about how to live a healthy and honorable life..." Since 1992
Cathrine Sneed has been helping those incarcerated and recently released
from prison find the value and joy of gardening.
The Garden Project (http://www.gardenproject.org) provides job training and
support to former offenders through counseling and assistance in continuing
education, while also impacting the communities from which they come.
This project's mission started with a small garden built at a San Francisco
County Jail. Here Sneed helped prisoners engage in the cooperative effort
of growing food. Making a difference, even on such a small scale, excited
participants, and helped them feel a part of a productive activity.
The next step came when she realized that this experience did not have the
potential to change the lives that awaited outside of prison. Cathrine
Sneed took on this project with the same innovation as the prison garden.
Initially, she and a group of ex-prisoners would meet each Saturday to plant
trees around San Francisco. She then transformed a vacant lot into a
garden producing vegetables for local restaurants. Since then the Garden
Project has continued to grow, adding an intensive 38-week training program
for minority adults, which allows participants to earn a wage, continue
their education, build life skills, and contribute to the community through
environmental projects.
Cathrine Sneed's work with the Garden Project is creating a model for
crime-prevention and rehabilitation depending on inclusion and education.
Her innovative work is giving those most marginalized a chance to work
together successfully.
The E. F. Schumacher Society, in collaboration with Orion Society and
Berkshire Grown, is hosting Cathrine Sneed. This event will be held on
Tuesday, the 29th of April at 7:30 pm at the First Congregational Church in
Great Barrington, MA. Tickets are 5 BerkShares/dollars at the door
(http://www.berkshares.org).
The full text, audio, and video clips of Sneed's 1995 E. F. Schumacher
Lecture are available through the E. F. Schumacher Society website
(http://www.smallisbeautiful.org).
Sincerely,
Michael Gordon
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
efssociety@smallisbeautiful.org
Board of Directors: Jessica Brackman, Starling Childs, Merrian Fuller,
Hildegarde Hannum, Eric Harris-Braun, Constance Packard, Joseph Stanislaw,
Nancy Jack Todd, and Charles Turner.
Board of Founders: Ian Baldwin, David Ehrenfeld, Satish Kumar, John
McClaughry, and Kirkpatrick Sale.
Advisory Board: Tanya Berry, Thomas Berry, Wendell Berry, Lisa Byers, Olivia
Dreier, Hazel Henderson, Wes Jackson, Amory Lovins, John McKnight, David
Orr, Michael Shuman, Cathrine Sneed, Lewis Solomon, John Todd, Greg Watson,
Barbara Wood, and Arthur Zajonc.
Back to Newsletters
