YMCA, Overlook Hospital Bring Community Garden To Summit

Healthy communities begin with access to fresh, organic produce. Fortunately for Summit, a new community garden is now open not only for those with a green thumb but for first-time gardeners, too.

Dozens of community members attended the Summit ACHIEVE Community Garden ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday afternoon at the garden’s Beauvoir Avenue location. Those in attendance included Mayor Ellen Dickson, who has her own plot at the garden; Councilman Tom Getzendanner; Overlook Medical Center President Alan Lieber; Environmental Commission member Marian Glenn, who is Chair of the volunteer ACHIEVE committee; Janet Smith, of the Summit Area YMCA, who spearheaded this initiative; ACHIEVE steering committee members as well as YMCA staff members.

Rabbi Ruth Gais, who serves as Palliative Care Chaplain at Overlook Hospital and has her own garden plot, and Rev. Dr. Denison D. Harrield, Jr. of Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church led the blessing of the garden during the ceremony.

“The goal of ACHIEVE is to foster healthy communities and what better way to do that than with this garden,” said Darrell Johnson, Summit Area YMCA President & CEO. “It not only provided more than 40 families and organizations the opportunity to grow their own vegetables and fruit, and get some fresh air and exercise at the same time, but also helps strengthen the emotional health of everybody involved through the relationships and community building that this shared sense of success will bring.”

The garden is located on a parcel of land donated for use under a five-year free land lease agreement by Overlook Medical Center, according to an ACHIEVE press release. The garden is partially funded through a grant to the Summit Area YMCA from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The project is meant to help fight obesity and encourage residents to live a healthier lifestyle.

The Summit ACHIEVE committee acted very quickly to build this garden after gaining approval from the Summit Zoning Board earlier this year. The garden includes 44 raised beds, which are each 4 feet by 12 feet in size, according to the press release. The annual fee for the 2013 season is $75. However, one-third of the plots were reserved for lower-income residents at a reduced annual fee of $25 to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to benefit from fresh, nutritious food. Participants can cultivate organic vegetables, fruits and herbs, and no chemicals are used.

Johnson said this garden would not have been possible without the financial support of various donors and friends, including Overlook Medical Center and the City of Summit.

“We’re grateful for all of our partners in this effort and value all of their contributions. Without our very first partner stepping in and saying 'yes,' we wouldn’t be standing here today.”

Overlook Medical Center was the first partner for this project and according to the Overlook Medical Center President Alan Lieber, this is a step in the direction of Overlook’s new mission.

“Our new mission statement is to help empower communities we serve to be among the healthiest in the nation,” Lieber said. “We see this project as a very nice way into that and a nice way of partnering with the community as well as providing an area for a very interesting project that will help build skills, help bring fresh food to folks and do a lot of good for the community. We’re really thrilled to be working with ACHIEVE, the Y and the city to make this happen. This is a great project and I want to congratulate everyone who is part of it.”

Johnson said the City of Summit was another valuable partner in this project, as Mayor Dickson and City Administrator Chris Cotter — members of the Summit ACHIEVE Steering Committee — helped the YMCA and Overlook Medical Center over the past couple of years.

“Chris helped us with so many details that apply to the approval process. His advice helped us avoid lots of headaches and actually helped cure a couple. If you see him, make sure to thank Chris for his support,” Johnson said. “Mayor Dickson not only provided important leadership through the development of the garden but attended and worked several of the work days we had here. Most days, she brought food and beverages for the volunteers. She has a plot here of her own.”

Mayor Dickson says the garden has become a social center for the city and she’s learned a lot.

“I can say that there aren’t that many projects in the city that were as fulfilling as this. We started out as a committee probably six to eight months ago. Janet Smith ran it with Darrell Johnson on it, Rev. Harrield, quite a few of [the people] who are here today,” Dickson said. “I think it worked because it’s been on our minds for quite a while to have a community garden and I just couldn’t visualize where it would be. When someone pointed out this location, I thought, 'but there’s ambulances and traffic,' and it didn’t look big enough. And now that I look at it, I think it’s perfect and I can’t thank Overlook Hospital enough. It’s been a great experience and I thank everybody involved.”

In addition to the CDC grant, this garden was made possible through generous grants from the Overlook Foundation, the Summit Garden Club, and the Junior League of Summit, according to the ACHIEVE release. In addition, many committee volunteers have donated both their time and services, including Lindabury attorneys Roger Mehner and Jay DeLaney and Andrew Clarke of ABC Surveys.

The CDC’s national ACHIEVE (Action Communities for Health, Innovation & Environmental Change) initiative provides grants to facilitate changes in policies, systems and built environments within communities to encourage healthier lifestyles, according to the release. The Summit ACHIEVE committee has used the grant to help fund the community garden, as well as support additional initiatives that include a recent purchase of six bike racks for the City of Summit, collaboration with the Department of Community Programs to restrict smoking in city-owned parks during municipal events, and sponsorship of a “Take the Stairs” campaign to encourage daily activity.