East Boston Residents Dig In for a Healthy Future

EAST BOSTON, MA, May 23, 2011—East Boston residents spent a recent Saturday getting dirty in an exciting new initiative to support healthier lifestyles. On May 14, the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center held a festive public event to inaugurate its new Wellness Garden on Bremen Street, located at the former Paul’s Lo-Cost Parking lot between Porter and Gove Streets. At the event, 30 raised garden beds were filled with soil and compost and prepared for planting.

The inauguration took place in concert with the Food Project’s Build a Garden event and the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing’s community development corporation, which organized the East Boston branch of the project and built 23 additional raised garden beds in the backyards of East Boston residents. EBNHC filled garden beds with soil at its community garden site and served as base camp for the community-wide collaboration.

In addition to establishing garden beds, the event created energy and enthusiasm around community gardening and directly involved EBNHC patients as gardeners. Many community garden members were in attendance, along with their friends and family. EBNHC CEO Jack Cradock, Deputy CEO Manny Lopes, Director of Volunteer and Student Services Kathleen Field, and Medical Director of Let’s Get Movin’ Alison Brown were present representing EBNHC leadership. In addition, Edith Murnane, Director of Food Initiatives for the City of Boston, lent a hand and shared words of wisdom with the crowd at the opening ceremony.

“I think it’s been a long time since Paul’s Lo-Cost Parking has seen so much excitement!” noted Eleanor Chandler, HealthCorps Program Leader, Let’s Get Movin’ program, who serves as the Farmers Market and Wellness Garden Manager. “People of all ages were bustling around, moving huge piles of compost and loam and having a wonderful time doing it. It is difficult to describe the buzz that was in the air that day, but I can say that it was very inspiring and made me feel immensely grateful to be working on such an amazing project with such wonderful people.”

The Wellness Garden embodies a meaningful commitment to holistic health and preventive medicine. By empowering patients to grow their own food, EBNHC is helping families to make personal investments in their health through the hands-on nature of gardening. Eating well does not have to be expensive, and this new initiative shows that with a little sweat and dedication, laying down the roots to a healthier future is an achievable goal.

Wellness Garden participants are all patients at EBNHC, and the majority of them participate in the Let’s Get Movin’ program, a lifestyle change program for children, teens, and their families who have been identified as at risk for obesity or overweight. This garden is the newest component of Let’s Get Movin’s food access programming, addressing the fact that lack of access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food is at the root of chronic diet-related illness. The garden will be a valuable resource for the community as a whole, as over 30 families will have the tools to grow their own food at a very low cost all season long.

Alison Smizer, EBNHC Community Initiatives Coordinator, observed, “It was such an empowering experience to see everyone come together to build these raised beds. I was blown away by the sheer number of families and individuals that came out to take part in the creation of their future garden—and the incredible support we received from other local organizations and the City of Boston made this day one of true community partnership. I’m looking forward to watching our garden grow!”

Marika Horsky is a Main Streets board member and Eagle Hill Civic Association member. “I picked up an application to be an EBNHC gardener at the Harborside Community Center’s ‘Stir a Memory’ workshop and was truly overjoyed when I heard that I was accepted,” Horsky explained. “Cultivating a community garden is importantly the opportunity to cultivate existing and new friendships with my neighbors. When you know your neighbors, you feel a deeper sense of belonging in a community and so you can take pride in it! To me, initiatives such as EBNHC’s new community garden, thanks to which residents from all walks of life have an opportunity to connect and find common ground, are the building blocks of a healthy community. I also praise EBNHC for paving the way to transform a part of an unwelcoming parking lot into a blossoming garden. Now that’s urban beautifying at its best!”

The EBNHC Wellness Garden is a model for other community health centers and community health workers who are looking for ways to create sustainable improvements in health outcomes through education, development, and empowerment. The public is warmly invited to stop by the garden as the season progresses and check out what new plants are popping up.

The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) has been a vital part of its community for over 40 years, providing easily accessible, high-quality health care to all who live and work in East Boston and the surrounding communities of Chelsea, Revere, Everett, and Winthrop. EBNHC handles 300,000 patient visits per year—more than any other ambulatory care center in New England.