Group shifts into high gear with grant money
FLINT -- Garfield-Bunche is a community service organization that has been around in Flint since 1984, but now they have shifted into overdrive. The reason is two-fold. First a $60,000 grant to clean up vacant properties, plus a collaboration with Michigan State University and the City of Flint has allowed them to join a growing group of urban gardeners.
This newest project of providing fresh produce to people who might not otherwise have access to it is just part of the group's overall mission. "We encourage residents to get involved in the community for cleaning up abandoned properties says Quincy Murphy, organizer of the project.
Students from Baker College summer programs get to help. "You watch the community transform," says Treva Yarbrough, an MCC student from Virginia, "and there is nothing wrong with the community we are just brining it out more, that's all. Treva has been labeled "Garden Queen" by other students involved in the project. "If you first walk past a vacant lot people might be scared a bit but if you make it look attractive people might be more welcomed and warmed," says Treva.
Quincy says the group has cleaned up 115 vacant lots and 127 vacant homes since May of this year, in part with the help of the grant money. Their next big project will be putting in outdoor sports facilities on vacant lots such as horseshoes and other games to give people in the neighborhoods something to do outside.
