Volunteers have reinforced garden's vinyl fence with wooden pallets. "I can't give up on this," says one gardener.
La-Nyja Ferguson, 9, of Syracuse, paints one of the pallets used to reinforce the damaged fence of the Kwanzaa Village Garden on Midland Avenue near Furman Street. The gardeners put up the fence to stop people from cutting through and vandals knocked a section down. The path people used to cut through can be seen at the upper right. Syracuse, Ny -- The Kwanzaa Village community gardeners have dug in. They say vandalism will not drive them away. They were in the Midland Avenue garden Monday to decorate their newly reinforced, kick-proof fence.
“They can’t take that down unless they have an ax. Miss Hayden says they are too lazy to do that,” Keiera Jackson said.
Geneva Hayden founded the garden in 1996, and Jackson cofounded a grassroots organization that brought it back to life this spring with the help of a grant from The Gifford Foundation. The organization is Becoming Environmentally Aware Nationwide, also known as BEAN.
Volunteers had just finished installing a $2,000 vinyl fence to protect the garden, when vandals knocked down a back section. Hayden discovered the damage Aug. 1. The gardeners suspect it was kicked down by the same people who would cut through the garden and litter it with drug paraphernalia and other garbage. That’s why the fence went up.
The day after the vandalism made news, someone ripped up a patch of tomato plants. The gardeners suspect it was retaliation but they are determined to keep on growing.
“This is something positive. It’s making a change, so I can’t give up on this,” Ebony Ferguson said.
Mario Callaway, Jackson’s fiance, came up with the idea of reinforcing the vinyl fence with wooden pallets, which he got for free. Gardeners and their children were painting them to pretty them up.
Fifth grader La-Nyja Ferguson, whose mom is the lead gardener, was mad at the people who knocked down the fence and suspects they care only about themselves. She briefly thought maybe the gardeners should move to someother spot.
“But if we, like, do that we’re going to have to start all over. Like, our family and gardeners, we don’t want to give up. We’ve just got to keep praying and trying,” she said.
Hayden is doing that and more. She said plans to write to the mayor, her congressmen and the president to enlist their help in dealing the drugs and troublemakers. She’s planning a Sept. 11 parade against drugs and to honor those who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Sunday night after Hayden discovered the broken fence, she prayed about the situation and didn’t know what the gardeners would want to do. That turned out to be plant, weed and harvest right where they are.
“I was a little hurt but we’re not quitting because I figure if we stay with it, they’ll see we’re dedicated and we’re not leaving and it’ll die down, hopefully,” Ebony Ferguson said.
Contact Maureen Nolan at 470-2185 or mnolan@syracuse.com.
» Watch a video featuring Geneva Hayden.