The Fran Millward Community Garden at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Berea has just received a grant that will boost its green practices. The city applied for the grant under a parks/playground proposal, which will help in installing a watering system, rain garden and compost area.
Rev. Gayle Catinella, the church’s rector, said, “We are thrilled to receive the grant. What a blessing, a gift. It will allow us to do some cutting edge things that we would have otherwise not been able to do. We are hoping this will be a model for other gardens. The garden itself gives us an opportunity to reach out into the community.”
The irrigation system, which will include rain barrels, will help divert almost all the church’s roof runoff water from entering the city’s storm sewer system and area waterways. Instead the greenery in the rain garden will absorb most of the runoff water.
According to Catinella, the garden has received 10 rain barrels and bricks from the Ohio State University Suburban Community Garden Program.
Executive Director of Berea Community Development Corp. Rebecca Corrigan helped to create the project and the grant. “This is truly a private/public partnership,” she said.
Patrick Hoffman, an intern at the garden will install the rain barrels at each of the church’s downspouts to catch the water which will be used to irrigate the plants. He explained that the rain garden is a vehicle to hold waater and to keep it from flowing downstream.
“This is just a natural way of handling excess rain water. It’s good for the environment,” he said. “It will help the environment as well as the church’s water bill. Water like this can carry pollutants while traveling downstream and entering waterways.”
