San Bernardino community garden project opens with volunteer support

SAN BERNARDINO >> The land around the church was barren.

Stretching out farther, the neighborhood around Third Street near Tippecanoe Avenue itself is nearly a food desert, with little more than fast food available without a significant drive.

Two problems, perhaps, but to a volunteer at The Church of the Nazarene’s Compassion Center, Heather Gebauer, they added up to a solution.

With 11 other volunteers, she broke ground in March on a quarter-acre community garden, one she hopes will liven up the appearance of the church and improve families’ health in a county with 69 percent obesity.

It’s her small act of resurrection.

“I try to live my life — think global, act local,” Gebauer said. “It doesn’t have to always be big to make an impact on people’s lives.”

Her vision is that people of all ages will be able to go to the parcel to grow food for their families.

Volunteers have prepared the ground and put in an irrigation system — a must, given the state’s drought and water-use restrictions.

But it will take a bit more than that to make the dream a reality, she thinks.

What would do it is a grant from Seeds of Change, a program that awards grants — two of $20,000, five of $10,000 and 10 of $1,000 — to schools or organizations with “sustainable, community-based gardening and farming programs,” according to the organic seed company’s website.

The garden project is done with the support of The Compassion Center, itself an arm of The Nazarene Church on the southeast corner of Third Street and Lena Road.

They hand out about 250 bags of groceries and serve hot weekly meals to 60-to-100 people each week — more as the end of the month approaches — said Greg Miller, The Compassion Center’s chief operating officer.

“We’ve never run out of food, that I can think of, but sometimes we do run out of things that would be nicer to hand out — canned goods are always nice,” said Miller, who has served there for about two and a half years.

There’s a free health clinic, started by his wife, where Loma Linda University Health doctors see patients for free, whether or not they have health insurance.

“There is a lot going on,” Miller said. “The volunteers do so much, I forget sometimes how much we do.”

Particularly with regard to the garden, which he approved but isn’t directly involved in, Miller said there’s room for growth.

“If that goes well and we have volunteers, we definitely have much more land,” he said. “The church is very willing to open up so there is definitely room for expansion there.”