I left home after the tremendous family loss of my mother, and then my dog. I spent the next 5 years just running around partying, not caring about much, but I had my friends and my grandma to back me up. I was fine living on the side of the mountain year after year, all wet in the rain. But …
I would like to start by saying it means a lot to be here right now. As a matter of fact, me being up here is the completion of something that started over two years ago when I was first a part of this garden. I was offered an opportunity to give a talk for a benefit just like this, …
Good Afternoon Everyone and Welcome to the Cesar Chavez Day of service here at the Homeless Garden Projects Farm. So how was lunch? Let’s thank 1440 for providing us with such an outstanding & nourishing lunch! First-off I would like to thank each and everyone of you for not only taking the time to show up… but putting in the …
Hello, my name is Doug, I have been at the Homeless Garden Project since May. I grew up on the east coast, and have a construction, and restaurant background. I moved to California about ten years ago, and even though I had experience, it was hard for me to find work. The Homeless Garden Project gets people from all different …
When I was preparing for this talk, it was important to me that all of you here as guests at our Sustain Supper would get my very best. I wanted to speak in a way that you could see my excitement about my experience here, but also see how important the program is in our community. This program excites me, …
“Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.”
My name is Adam, I grew up in Santa Cruz county, in Aptos. My family was a pioneer family before the turn of the century in Aromas, California, where my Great grandfather Homer Marshall, ran a self- service station and a grocery store. In 1951, my Great Uncle Dolan took over the store and gas station. My grandfather was not …
Not too long ago, I was in a marriage living in a home with my husband and children, and my mom lived close by. My dad died when I was twelve, and my mom and I have always been very close since then. I was married for fourteen years and have been through a lot with my husband. Addiction was …
Over the past 12 years, staff and faculty at the UCSC Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise, and Participatory Governance have worked with HGP to document trainee growth and the transformative power of the farm. In addition to asking trainees to complete questionnaires at the beginning and end of their participation in the program, we have also been working to …
My name is Jessica and this is my truth. I always knew that my chronic homelessness had a thin line between being caused by chance and by circumstance. What started by circumstance created a pattern in my life that consisted of bad choices and hard decisions. A lot of it can also depend on your stance of whether or not …
