Church garden feeds mind, body, soul

Nearby, a young girl is spreading wood chips between rows of green beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and squash.

"You see the girl over there?" he asks. "I baptized her and her mother."

She gets paid for her weeding, but Bright also gives his young parishioner some of the vegetables grown on the lot next to the small West End church, where he's been the pastor for more than two decades.

"I'm going to send her home with some wholesome food," he said. "It helps with the nutrition of the family."

Before the week is over, Bright will give food to five other families who work in the garden. It is his message: Bright, 70, wants people to take more control over their lives, their bodies and the environment.

"I'm extremely concerned about the kind of food people are eating," said Bright, who also teaches environmental health at the Morehouse School of Medicine. "Children will eat whatever is available and it's not always nutritious. We know that the quality of this food is very high and that's important."

It's important for several reasons. Heart disease, stroke and cancer are the leading causes of death in Georgia men, according to a study released last week by the Georgia Commission on Men's Health. Poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise are major contributors.

Part of this inherent problem is that many people have little time or money to eat healthy, especially in today's tough economy, said Elisabeth Omilami, executive director of the Hosea Williams Feed the Hungry & Homeless and a longtime community activist. Access is also an issue.

"Poverty creates barriers to obtaining healthy foods," she said. "A lot of the time, places like the farmer's markets, Whole Foods or places like that are outside of our neighborhoods. ... If there's not a supermarket nearby, people go to the neighborhood store. We have people living on Ramen noodles, a Cup-a-Soup, which is loaded with sodium. Or buying things like fatback to season their food with because it's easily accessible. They're eating canned food instead of fresh fruits and vegetables."

In 2007, Georgia was among the 10 states with the highest food insecurity rates (defined as the inability to obtain sufficient food), according to the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to end hunger and malnutrition in the United States.

Community gardens are a way to address that issue. Omilami said there are plans to break ground on her own neighborhood garden that will provide jobs and food.

It's a concept that is gaining in momentum as more Americans look for ways to cut rising food costs and eat healthier. In Metro Atlanta, there are more than 200 community gardens.

"We believe we can have sustainable and healthy communities through gardening," said Bobby Wilson, president of the American Community Gardening Association and an area extension agent for the University of Georgia's Cooperative Extension. "Not only do we come in, clean up vacant lots and turn them into productive pieces of land. We change lifestyles and promote healthier living."

It also address issues such as food quality, environmental concerns and community building.

Wilson said metro Atlanta has always been in the forefront of the community garden movement. Still, he's never seen so much interest.

It's an idea that Bright would like to see embraced by more churches. And he has bigger plans. He would like to buy several large tracks of land in the rural areas and organize large working farms. To him, it is as much about building character and community as it is about growing food.

This is the second year for his garden, which occupies about an acre of land off I-20. Some of the plants and seeds have been donated. Others, Bright has bought using his own money.

His biggest challenge, however, is getting people to work in the garden.

Harvey and Jean Scott, who live a few blocks away, heard about the garden and were anxious to help. Harvey Scott grew up on a farm in Mississippi and wanted to find a place to plant vegetables.

"This is a beautiful thing but they don't have enough help," he said. "You have about two people doing all the work."

Anyone who wants to plant food can do so, as long as they help maintain the garden and share the harvest with others.

Spreading that message has been slow, even among his church's 75 members. But that's not swayed him from his mission.

Bright figures if he can influence 10 percent of his parishioners, then he's done his job.

"It take a long time to change habits," he said.