On the grounds of the Viatorian Province Center, toward the back of the property, enclosed in a white picket fence, a group of volunteers tend 25 plots in the Community Giving Garden that yield an amazing array of flowers and produce.
Fr. Jhobany Orduz, CSV, and Saint Viator High School Service & Song participants did some yard work this summer to support the Giving Garden and the volunteer gardeners.
Each year, Associate John Dussman coordinates the plots and asks gardeners to give half or more of their vegetables to a charitable organization. Already, just by September, this year’s total donations have already exceeded one ton!
The Viatorian Community provides this fenced-off portion of the property with raised garden beds and compost for fertilizer. Then, it’s up to the ingenuity, persistence, and attention of our volunteer gardeners to be stewards of their plots.
The gardening crew for this year includes Associates Jim and Joan Thomas; Maura Dussman Haddad, nurse at Saint Viator High School and daughter of John and Associate Faith Dussman; many parents and families from Saint Viator High School; and community partners from the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Children of Abraham Coalition, First United Church of Arlington Heights, and Wheeling Township Food Pantry, a major beneficiary of the produce donations.
Catholic Social Teaching helps people of good will apply Gospel principles to our social living today. This garden ministry reflects earnest Care for God’s Creation, while the intentionality of donations to food pantries honors Solidarity, connecting us with neighbors, and Preferential Option for People Who Are Marginalized, whose hunger or need may lead society to account them of little importance.
The ministry goes back to 2012, when Fr. Dan Hall, CSV, and Br. Michael Gosch, CSV, seeded the idea. John notes that every year, they need a few new volunteers to take on a plot. Interested prospective gardeners can contact John at jdussman@icloud.com.
Enjoy these photos from a recent sunny morning at the Province Center Giving Garden!
