The Rotary Club of Columbia-Patuxent helped create a Nourishing Garden by connecting three previous grant recipients and supplying some of the physical labor needed to help make the visionary project a reality. It began with James Place Inc, one of the club’s grantees that provides funding and advocacy to help people recovering from the disease of addition. For many years Barbara Allen, James Place executive director and wife of Rotarian Tom Allen, has worked with Turek House, an addiction treatment and recovery program that includes a men’s residential treatment facility.
Barbara advocated for years that Howard County needed a similar program for women. She was thrilled when Turek purchased property and opened a women’s program, Highland House, in 2024, assisted by a Columbia-Patuxent Rotary grant. Zelda, one of Highland House’s 14 residents, expressed interest in creating a garden on the property. Gardening has been shown to have many therapeutic benefits as well as providing fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers. Barbara thought this was a great idea and approached Turek management to say that if they agreed with the project, she would manage it.
With Turek’s approval, Barbara approached Geoff Carton, Rotary’s community service chair, about the club providing some volunteer labor. He agreed and also connected Barbara with the Community Ecology Institute (CEI). Rotarians have completed a number of projects and provided grants to CEI over the years. The Institute also has a Nourishing Gardens program to transform lawns into beneficial growing spaces to nourish people, the community, and nature. CEI created a design for Highland House’s garden and sourced supplies and plants. A Howard County Health Dept. grant paid about half the project’s overall project cost.
On garden installation day, Rotary helpers along with Turek staff, men from Howard House and the women of Highland House, worked to make Zelda’s vision come true. A 30 x 30-foot lawn area was transformed into a fenced garden with six raised beds for vegetables and herbs, surrounded by perennial flowers and berry bushes. When the weather’s warmer, more plants will be added and Highland House residents will learn how to care for and harvest the produce.
Rotarian Geoff Carton lauded the new garden as a great example of how connections between Rotary and various organizations can help spur community improvements. “It is so seldom that we get an opportunity to meet with and see the humanity of the people we are trying to help,” he said. “The Turek men and Highland House women were very real and open. I look forward to hearing about their success. I really appreciate that they were there doing the work themselves.”
TEXT by Tom Allen PHOTOS by Geoff Carton
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