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Feature Articles

Responsible Building | Local Food
Local Food For All | Green our Economy

Responsible Building | Habitat ReStores

Habitat ReStores are retail outlets where quality used and surplus building materials are sold at a fraction of normal prices. Proceeds from ReStores help local affiliates fund the construction of Habitat houses within the community. Many affiliates across the United States and Canada operate successful restores—some of which raise enough funds to build an additional 10 or more houses per year.

Habitat ReStore’s Goals are to:

Generate cash flow to support habitat’s home building program
Keep valuable materials out of local area landfills
Provide community with a source of low-cost building materials
Provide an opportunity to volunteer at the Habitat ReStore

Habitat for Humanity accepts donations of new and saleable, used building materials such as cabinets, lighting and plumbing fixtures, doors, lumber, flooring, and windows. Some materials will be used to build habitat houses. The rest will be sold to the public at 50-75% off the retail price. There are over 500 Habitat ReStores in the U.S. and Canada. Three of them in our area include South Bend, Mishawaka, and Elkhart locations. You can find them in the Michiana Green Pages “Buildings, Homes & Gardens” section.
The Habitat ReStore makes home improvement more affordable while helping Habitat build more homes. At the same time, usable building materials are kept out of our landfills.

You can help by donating new and used building materials, volunteering in the stores and purchasing from the stores.
www.habitat-for-humanity.org

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Local Food | Community Gardening

The Community Gardens of Michiana group was originally formed as South Bend Community Gardens beginning with a casual conversation at the South Bend Earth Day event in April of 2007. Soon after, a workshop at the Community Forum for Economic Development (CFED) on the issue of food sparked a lively discussion. It ended up with most in the room excited about the idea of and potential for community gardens in South Bend.

The casual conversation blossomed into a meeting of a core group of interested people from across the city.

At the same time, similar conversations about the power of local food and the desire for more local access to and control over food were being held among participants in Bertrand Farm’s community supported agriculture program. One gardener mentioned they knew of the perfect place – the lawn north of the Potawatomi Greenhouse.

The greenhouse had been operated by the city since the 1920’s, and the conservatory was added in the 1960’s. The former city gardener, who used to live in a house on the property, had kept a garden on the site which had lain dormant in the years since the house was removed after his retirement.
In 2008, again through an informal idea discussion at the CFED, Sara Stewart-Uzelac proposed opening up a garden for whoever wanted to drop in to grow food in downtown South Bend. She dug it up and planted that same spring! The concept of the Unity Garden took root, and several more have been started around the region in 2009.

The new name, Community Gardens of Michiana, is designed to reflect the new vision of shared technical assistance, resources, grant opportunities, volunteers, and educational resources.

Information on the gardens can be found at www.sbcg.org.

Krista Bailey

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Local Food for All | City Spaces

The Urban Garden Market (UGM) is a unique economic and social tool to help achieve a wide variety of goals. It was started in September, 2008 as a collaborative effort between growers and community organizations. The UGM’s primary purpose is to provide South Bend’s west side community with a place to buy fresh produce direct from producers in a congenial atmosphere, and to provide producers with a direct market for their goods. Area farmers as well as backyard, urban gardeners are encouraged to participate as vendors.

Additionally, the UGM promotes public health by increasing the availability of fresh nutritious food for inner city residents and seniors on fixed incomes. By bringing together diverse people and economic activity to the underused space, the Market can help the area become stronger, safer and more vibrant.

The Urban Garden Market is a collaborative effort developed by representatives from the LaSalle Area Neighborhood Association, Community Gardens of Michiana, and the Community Forum for Economic Development with assistance from the Botanical Society of South Bend and the City of South Bend. It is located in the LaSalle Square area and will operate Saturdays May 23 through mid-October, running from 9:00am – Noon each day.

Urban Garden Market Mission: To provide fresh, locally grown produce and prepared food products in a friendly, inviting market place.

For more information contact: urbangardenmarket@gmail.com

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Green our Economy | Community Currency

Michiana Community Currency is working to build a movement in our region to support local producers and businesses and lighten our load on the planet.
As our economy has become more global, we know less and less about where and how the goods we consume are made. Long-distance trade makes it impossible to know the true environmental and social risks and costs of what we consume.

Like the Michiana Green Pages, Michiana Community Currency aims to help re-localize our economic life. It does so by generating our own local currency that can only be circulated within our region. Community currencies complement national ones, allowing consumers to consciously support local markets, even as they continue to use dollars for many items that are not available locally. Residents can earn local money by providing services and goods for neighbors such as child care, dog walking, home repairs, etc. They can also volunteer with community groups. This adds income to our local economy, and it enhances opportunities for locally owned businesses and individual entrepreneurs.
Modeled on similar initiatives in places like Ithaca, New York and a growing number of places around the country and world, community currencies link our economic activities with communities and our natural environment. Our currency will allow us to assign value to goods and services that build up our community and conserve our natural resources, rather than leaving this to the global marketplace.

Please join this effort to build a sustainable local economy. Visit our website at www.michianacurrency.org or email: michianacurrency@gmail.com. Phone: 574-287-3834.
Jackie Smith

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