Do the Homeless Really Volunteer in the Garden?

People often ask us if homeless individuals are really participating in our garden. Of course, this is mostly because people assume they can tell the housing status of a person by looking at their clothing or based on their mental health status.

It's sometimes hard to answer this question, since an individuals housing status can change during the time they are working with us in the garden. In fact, since we have a fantastic client advocate we hope that all individuals who are homeless or living in a shelter when they begin working in the garden will be able to move into more stable housing. Since it's important to let people keep their private information private, we don't often share with volunteers which of the individuals working beside them in the garden sleep on the streets, in shelters, in a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel room or in more stable housing in the neighborhood.

The word "homeless" itself provides a problem. Many people who live outdoors, in shelters or in a SRO do not consider themselves homeless, even though they meet the federal guidelines for homelessness. Some say that they don't need housing to have a home, because that is something they carry inside themselves. Others prefer to the terms "stable housing," "marginally housed" and "unstable housing."

Despite all the hiccups with language and stereotypes, it's interesting to see who is doing most of the work in our garden. Our goal was to create a safe place for homeless individuals, living in housing situations that leave them without access to a backyard, garden space or who have no place to relax and participate in the community around them. In order to see if we're meeting this goal, we'll use the federal understanding of homelessness (living outdoors, in shelters or SROs).

From March 1 - July 17, 2010 the Growing Home Community Garden has logged 1125.96 volunteer hours. This includes 213.5 volunteer hours from neighbors, 563.3 volunteer hours from homeless individuals and 185.66 volunteer hours from other volunteers. You'll note that the break down of hours is a little less that the total number of hours volunteered, this is because we haven't finished logging all the hours yet.

These volunteer numbers show that our garden is overwhelmingly taken care of by the homeless. So, the answer is: yes, the homeless really do volunteer in our garden.

We hope our garden will transform the false perception that homeless individuals are lazy or simply trying to live off the handouts of others. Inspired and led by both homeless and housed individuals, our garden is a space to grow food and provide a safe community for all who need it. Regardless of your housing status, we hope you will stop by the garden soon.