Garden thrives at homeless shelter – Honolulu, Hawaii

About 75 volunteers helped spruce up the Institute for Human Services men’s and women’s shelters in Iwilei yesterday, planting gardens as part of the organization’s urban farming initiative. Volunteer Kendra Neipp helped Autumn Ingalls, 2, left, and Gwyneth Landau, 7, plant beets. Photo by Bruce Asato.

Volunteers help spruce up the IHS facility in Iwilei to celebrate its Founder’s Day

By Rob Shikina
Honolulu Star Advertiser
Aug 15, 2010

Excerpt:

A homeless shelter has become a garden in the city.

Community members planted malabar spinach, papaya trees, grape tomatoes, banana trees, corn, Okinawan and regular sweet potatoes, and various herbs yesterday as the Institute for Human Services celebrated its Founder’s Day. The event drew about 75 volunteers from the shelter and community to spruce up the men’s and women’s shelters in Iwilei.

The special day honored the Rev. Claude Du Teil, the late IHS founder, who opened a drop-in center in Chinatown in 1978 after fighting his own battles against mental illness and alcoholism.

At the women’s shelter on Kaaahi Street, volunteers added fruits and vegetables to the landscaping as part of the organization’s urban farming initiative.

IHS serves 700 meals a day and the garden will supplement the meals, said Connie Mitchell, the institute’s executive director.

Organizing the garden was Hunter Heaivilin, an instructor at the Green House, a private company that has a state grant to teach kids at the shelter about sustainable living.

He carefully organized the 1,000 square feet of earth between the sidewalk and the building, creating a miniecosystem with smaller plants beneath larger plants, like the green beans at the feet of 8-foot-tall stalks of corn in front of a row of squash. He had volunteers plant ong choy, watercress and comfrey — all thirsty plants — under a wall of growing herbs where the water drains off.

See the complete article here.