In the past, when I’ve thought of Detroit, I definitely haven’t pictured open green spaces, vegetable gardens taking up whole property lots, and chicken coups and flower beds housed inside gutted buildings. Luckily for me though, I had the opportunity to see those things personally this past Friday, September 11, 2009. As part of my year-long service with AmeriCorps I take part in a member training meeting once a month. This month, with President Obama’s call to recognize this September 11th as the first National Day of Service and Remembrance, we used our AmeriCorps gathering to serve in a way that would benefit a small part of the community in the city of Detroit.
Some of our fellow AmeriCorps members serve with an organization called The Greening of Detroit. We were fortunate enough to be able to partner with this group and go down to Peacemakers Garden, just a short drive from the downtown area. Over the next few hours we uprooted old veggie plants and weeded the sizeable gardens, mixed up mounds of compost, picked up garbage and mowed grassy lots and actually got a start on replanting the beds with fresh seeds. And most fortunately for us, we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful, sunny day during which to work.
I feel that we, as a group of AmeriCorps volunteers, have answered the President’s call to service. I’m proud to be a citizen of the United States, Michigan and the metro-Detroit area and take responsibility for the part I can play in helping Detroit realize its potential.
