The Lakes Community Garden - Extreme Generosity For Muskegon

As I drove off and the line was forming, I overheard "Is there anything someone needs today...anything specific that anyone needs?"  Been that way for years at the corner of Evanston and Mill Iron in Muskegon at the expansive and lush Community Garden that sits just outside the Connection Point Church.  It's not only filled with the bounty of all things Michigan in the Summer, it's all free to anyone who needs it.




The humble beginnings sprang from the idea that Terry Luce had one day.  It seemed there was a seldom used ball field on the church property and he'd tug at the pastor once in a while and say how good a garden would look there.  Well, Terry was in the same boat as many of us have been when it "took root".  He got downsized and went back to the pastor and said.... "Well, I have plenty of time now", and so it began.

Soil got tilled up, seeds were planted and a garden grew.  Not all together out of the ordinary, but the mission behind the garden...that's where things get good.  Those first few seeds were way more than plants.  They were the seeds of an amazing outreach that's been going on ever since.  11 years of providing fresh locally grown veggies for anyone who needs them.  It's simply an extension of their belief in taking care of community, friends and neighbors who might be in need and being able to provide for them in ways that take more time and love than just a cash donation.

Provide?  Do they ever.  Out of the garden hundreds of zucchini's, bushels of beans, peppers of all kinds, cucumbers, squash, broccoli, corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe, cabbage, kale, onions....what was once that desolate ball field is now the plot where anyone can come and find what they need, free of charge beginning at 11a every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday while the picking is good.  There's a magnificent stand where you won't find so much as a donation jar because they don't want anyone there to feel the pressure to match what someone else might have given.  The one thing you won't find?  Your way into the garden itself, unless of course you're one of the volunteers that helps tend it.  The preservation of the garden is best kept to them and their work is to be commended.

It was a second trip for me out to the garden to film the story.  As it turned out last week, I got there to film...and blew it.  Yep.  Plugged the mic into the wrong input on the camera but I found Terry Luce, Church Pastor Aaron Gregory and Rich Mitchell all very forgiving and we talked again about the passion for people and the desire to give grace with no expectation of return through their work.  Take a listen.

Can you imagine a world if we all just put in half of what happens here?   We're always so proud, an so humbled to show the good deeds that go on in Muskegon and our surrounding areas, but it really tugs at the heart strings when those good deeds are done of the sweat and labor of a few for the good of so many.  This is truly what makes Muskegon so incredible...these people represent the greatness that is our story in any time, and especially our times now.  Giant endowments are awesome and all the grants in the world are amazing, but quietly and humbly...the work of giants goes on too without much fanfare and it's truly a gift of the heart.  Our most sincere thanks to the crew at The Lakes Community Garden.