In a sun-filled spot behind the Antioch Guest House the Perkins community garden is thriving. Started with two raised beds filled with cool-weather crops, the community garden is a project of the children, families, staff and friends of the Perkins Foundation.

The garden was initially started by a group of volunteers from Pine Lake Church in Brandon, MS. In late September, the group, headed up by Mike Burnett, built two raised beds for this fall and winter. If the plants yield fruit (or vegetables), in the spring the group will add three additional boxes for spring crops.

Burnett’s desire is to see the children of Afterschool Program take the lead in planting, tending, and cultivating the beds. The children have already learned about planting and watering. In the future they will learn about crop rotation, composting and harvesting. Keeping with the mission of the Perkins Foundation, he wants to see the youth and families of the Perkins Foundation take control, put in the work and reap the benefits of their sweat.

“We want this garden to be yours,” Burnett said to the children the first afternoon they worked on it. “[The Pine Lake folks] aren’t going to come back and take care of it. Its going to take some work on your part!”

It is not only a learning experience for the children—when they bring home vegetables to their families they will help save their parents money on groceries. Burnett said the garden, if properly worked and harvested, could yield from $500 to $900 in savings.

The hope is that the garden project will be a two year project, one that strengthens the already flourishing friendship between Pine Lake and the Perkins Foundation.

Its not easy being green.

Environmentally green that is. But we here at the Perkins Foundation believe, as stewards of the Earth, that it is our responsibility. God gave us dominion over this world and with that responsibility comes the duty to among other things conserve water, recycle, drive less, use less electricity, garden and compost. We’ve taken a number of small steps to make it easy for our staff, Zechariah 8 families and Perkins Center children to be environmentally friendly.

For our Zechariah 8 families we’ve provided recycling bins and a schedule of things they can do to easily play their part. Jackson recycling services picks up twice a month and we’ve also created a recycling drop off for our families here at the Perkins Center. We’ve also begun our community garden project where our Z8 families can plant, tend to and harvest their own produce.

Our children have started a recycling program with Capri Sun through which they collect used packages and get a refund from Capri Sun that goes towards the Afterschool Program. They also recycle their bottles, cans and paper and help sort the recycling that comes in from our Z8 families. They also help water and tend the garden during the program.

For our staff and Perkins Center facilities we’ve changed all of our lightbulbs to energy-saving bulbs, try to use natural light during the workday and utilize the garden and compost. We hope to build our first “green” house in the near future. Wayne Perkins is in the process of learning how to do just that! If you or someone you know might want to help us please contact our office!

We encourage all people, Christian and non, to think about their relationship to the Earth and thoughtfully pursue how you can be part of the solution to the environmental problems of our time.

Last Thursday, January 15, John Perkins spoke to the kids at the Spencer Perkins Center.

“Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?” Dr. Perkins asked.

“A civil rights leader,” “Jalesa, 5^th grade, promptly answered. “He made the black and white people equal!” Omari, 7^th grade, said. Jakaylah, 2^nd grade, called out, “He preached in D.C. in churches and marched.” “And led boycotts,” Permelia, 5^th grade, boldly stated.

As Dr. Perkins remembered Dr. King, he spoke from his heart about the fulfillment of a dream, King’s dream. Perkins believes there is no excuse now for African-Americans to fail.

“We’ve never had a place in this society where we weren’t second class citizens.” — until now. With the inauguration of Barack Obama, King’s dream was finally fulfilled.

“King had a dream. Obama is that dream.”