This is an article Nicky wrote about a garden he got involved with. It was printed in a paper they had at UCP.
THE GREEN OASIS
I first met my friend Normand Vallee at Floyd Benntt Field five years ago. Narmand and his partner Reineldo Arana are the co-founders of Green Oasis Community Garden. They got the idea from looking out their apartment window. They used to see kids with no place to play but the streets of a really poor neighborhood, and they wanted to give them something. So they turned a couple of old building lots into a garden and later on, added a third. The garden is on East 8th Street, between Avenues C & D in the Village. It�s got a large stage named after Reineldo, who was in theater, and has passed away. Green Oasis has a gazebo, a goldfish pond, a snapping turtle, beehives, fruit trees, vegetable and flower beds, a fireplace, and (very important to us) walkways and raised gardens for people in wheelchairs.
Like all over, things are rough this year, and because the garden is funded by lots of grants and community support, Normand and his board of helpers need as many helpers as they can find to keep it going.
I first started going with the Manhattan Saturday Teen Program three years ago and now I go with the Manhattan Day Treatment Program. Some of us go by vans and others go by public transportation. The Manhattan Recreation Program, Day Treatment Program and the Vocational Program also support Green Oasis.
This year my group is submitting a wreath in the UCP Wreath contest with decorations that we grew ourselves. It might win a prize and go to the NYC Wreath Contest in Central Park to advertise the Garden.
This winter, I am in charge of a project for my group to raise money to help buy things this springtime for Green Oasis.
Thanks Normand, for a great summer! We�ll be working hard all winter long planning for next year.
Nick Bruni
Participant, Manhattan Day
Treatment Program
To live in hearts we leave behind
is not to die.....
|