A Place for People with Special Needs to Contribute to and Interact with the Community
The LDS Enabling Garden is a combined effort of our Day Programs, Landscaping Crew, and numerous other entities. It’s an amazing story:
In the fall of 2001, Louisville Diversified Services moved one of its day programs to the Campus of the Ursuline Sisters on Lexington Road. The Sisters graciously donated the use of a house on the campus. The Cralle Foundation funded its renovation for use as a day program for adults with mental retardation. Friends in the Eastover neighborhood have embraced the project and have been a constant source of encouragement. Several of them have rented small community garden plots (through Operation Brightside) to tend vegetables through the warmer months.
The LDS Landscaping Team and community volunteers are now developing the grounds around the house. The grounds serve as a place where people with disabilities can garden, interact with the wider community, and enjoy the outdoors in a way that most of us take for granted. Raised beds and paths make gardening accessible for people who use wheelchairs or have trouble bending.
Two Eagle Scouts built the first two raised flower beds, and the final three were completed by UPS volunteers. Area garden clubs have provided funds for an herb garden, large pots of annuals, a pergola over the raised beds, and various grasses and trees that are native to Kentucky. A generous grant from Glenview Garden Club has taken the entire project up to its final phase: the building of a greenhouse on the back of the Garden House! Day program participants can walk or roll out into the greenhouse in the dead of winter, and neighbors can enjoy the greenshouse via an outside entrance.
Area schools are also using the gardens. Students adopt gardens, start science projects, and volunteer with LDS clients at The Garden House. There are six schools located nearby. This is a place where students from each school can learn about plants and trees native to Kentucky and make a real contribution to the community through LDS.
Day program participants raise seedlings under grow lights and then either transplant them or sell them at their popular annual Plant Sale held every May. To be notified about the next sale, contact the LDS offices at 502-581-0658.
For a detailed sketch of the Enabling Garden plan, click here.
To find out how you can help financially or as a volunteer with the Garden (or with LDS in general), click here.
