1. Sowing Change With Seeds of Hope
Story and photos by Nur Sattar/Fullerton News Academy --
By reimagining unused space in their front lawn, St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Fullerton
harvests and donates up to ten baskets of fruits and vegetables each week to area food banks.
The 50 boats sprawled across the church’s garden space are part of Seeds of Hope, a project
initiated by the church, generating produce ranging from lettuce to garlic.
Pathways of Hope, a local non-profit, receives most of the donations from the church’s harvests.
“Most food banks give out canned food, people really appreciate fresh produce,” said April
Johnen, manager of the Pathways of Hope Food Distribution Center.
St. Andrew’s Rev. Dr. Beth Kelly wanted a softer approach to the design, which eventually
progressed to the idea for the produce to be planted within boats, since the elementary designs
of the garden had boxes the plants and vegetables would’ve been planted in. Kelly. The design for
the boats stems from the story of the patron St. Andrew who received Jesus’ call from a boat.
The design and planning process was spearheaded pro bono by the Rios Clementi Hale Studios, a
Los Angeles architecture firm.
Boat planters outside St. Andrews Episcopal Church.
FullertonStories.com, February 25, 2015.

2. The garden follows Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines by including decomposed
granite and pulverized stone paving which allows wheelchairs to easily access it, according to
Samantha Harris, lead landscape architect.
“They (church) wanted to invite the community at large back into their small community,”
Harris said.
SoCal WaterSmart, a program which provides
rebates to private and commercial property owners
for water conservation, will provide $12,000 to the
church to remove grass and initiate a water efficient
space, according to Kelly.
There are plans for more growth, including a fruit
orchard that will comprise of an additional 32 fruit
trees and a water fountain.
“We’ve had a total of 71 people participate in this
[project],” Kelly said. All the harvesting and
tending of the garden is done by volunteers who
work in groups, rotating their shifts weekly.
“There’s no promise that anything will come out of
the ground and it’s so rewarding to see the little
green shoots poking out of the ground,” said Jessi
Lowerre, one of the volunteers.
The St. Andrews Episcopal Church is looking
for volunteers to help out in the garden. For
more information contact
Rev. Dr. Beth Kelly at saintandrewsrector@gmail.com.
Editor's note: This story is the first from our new partnership with the Fullerton News
Academy, headed by Jay Seidel of the Fullerton College journalism program.
- See more at: http://www.fullertonstories.com/#sthash.82IiKddi.dpuf
The Seeds of Hope garden at St. Andrews
Episcopal Church
FullertonStories.com, February 25, 2015.