‘A place of tranquility’ grows in Southwest Philly with the work of community and a lot of friends

The industrious hum of power tools filled the hall of the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center as union carpenters on their day off built park benches, stools, and tables. Meanwhile, less than a block down Kingsessing Avenue, a small army of community and nonprofit volunteers were sprucing up a lovingly landscaped green space that was awaiting the newly crafted furniture.

There were newly planted trees, berry bushes, pollinator-attracting plants, even strawberries. You might call it a garden, but it’s really more than that.

“This is an outdoor community center,” said Kimberlee Douglas, director of Thomas Jefferson University’s landscape architecture program and its Lab for Social and Urban Innovation.

Douglas helped develop Jefferson’s Park in a Truck Initiative, which teams up with residents in the city to create oases of green and community cohesion.

“It empowers the community to take charge of their neighborhood,” Douglas said.

On Saturday, Douglas and her volunteers partnered with community members and members of the Eastern States Regional Council of Carpenters to bring the dream of the Cecil Street Community Garden even closer to fruition.

The carpenters had volunteered their services before with other Park in a Truck projects, but for senior council representative Joseph Lockley, this one was a bit special.

“I was born and raised in this neighborhood,” Lockley said. “This is great for me.”

Apprentices and journeymen carpenters had volunteered to help the Southwest Philadelphia garden project Saturday, he said.

“That’s part of the culture we try to teach our apprentices,” Lockley said. “There’s no ‘i’ in team.”

The Block Gives Back, a nonprofit group invited by the carpenters, set up on Cecil Street, grilling free pinchos for lunch for all the volunteers.

To Victoria Miles-Chambliss, a neighborhood resident and officer with community organization Empowered CDC Inc., all the activity was a wonderful sight.

“I’ve been blessed with volunteers,” said Miles-Chambliss, whose porch was set with breakfast for all helpers.

But the road hasn’t been smooth. The retired insurance worker said she and others had been working to make the once-delinquent corner patch of land into a community garden since 2014. They came up against roadblocks, including some from the city government, she said.

But during that time Jefferson and some other organizations have stepped up to help make the project happen; she said they plan to have an official opening in August.

In the meantime, Miles-Chambliss said the community is starting a program through the garden called Leaders and Legacy, which will partner youths ages 9 to 16 with senior citizens. The youngsters will teach the seniors computer and technology skills, while the elders act as mentors and surrogate grandparents.

Douglas said once the Park in a Truck garden projects really get going, the communities create their own programs as they see the need. In the project’s Mantua garden, the community has had a paid summer youth internship program, she said.

There are three Park in a Truck gardens completed or underway, with three more planned.

Park in a Truck has helped Cecil Street secure funding for other parts of its project, including its pollinator plantings.

Even before its grand opening, the garden is already making a difference, Miles-Chambliss said.

“It is absolutely a place of tranquility,” she said. “To have all the noise outside disappear when you sit in that garden, you can’t beat that.”