Monday, June 1, 2009

John Dolza, 40


John Dolza was laid off from his job at a nursing home last summer. After spending a few months volunteering for the Obama campaign, Dolza decided to focus his efforts on establishing the first community garden in his town of Fenton, Michigan.

In a few short months he has rallied the town around the project, securing support from the city government, several local businesses, a grant from the Mott Foundation, and numerous friends and neighbors.

"I could not do this right now if I didn't have all this support. MARVIN payments are keeping me in gas and food, my good friend Val is putting me up...and the city is really, really supportive".

For the time being, Dolza has put off job-hunting to focus on organizing the garden full-time. With a nod to his umemployment benefits, he jokingly refers to it as "the Garden that MARVIN built".

The picture above, taken in March, shows Dolza at the site before groundbreaking. This is what it looks like now:


Dolza believes this is a project of necessity.

"People around here are hungry," says Dolza. "We've got folks who are going to Wal-Mart and stealing food and toilet paper because they're so broke".
With this in mind, 2600 square feet of garden, about a quarter of the entire space, is dedicated for food for the hungry.

Dolza was also pleased to discover the project appealed to a wide range of Fenton residents.
"We've got retired hippies, U.A.W. guys, former GM managers, family moms that wanna grow food for the family...a huge diversity of people and all of them really energized".

Nevertheless he says, "There's a lot of cohesion here. Folks here wanna take care of their own, and that's what we're leveraging".

Dolza believes the time for a community garden of this nature is particularly ripe.

"Personally I think it's prudence, in case really hard times are around the corner... Also- we've all got time instead of money. If you're poor and don't want to live on double cheeseburgers, corn flakes and ramen noodles, this is about as good as it gets".

5 comments:

  1. An amazing story. It's funny how times like this really make you look at the basics: food, shelter, and a bit of love. Sounds like this project is getting the first & third going!

    -jess
    http://www.layoffmoveon.com
    http://twitter.com/__LOMO

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  2. This is really a great start and inspiring too. I have heard many instances like you during this recession time, but yours is somewhat different. Thanks for sharing this with us all.
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  4. Happened across this after a few years, wanted anyone who'd looked at Andy's work to know the garden in Fenton is doing really well. We gave away 3 tons of food our first year, more our second, and this year is off to a good start. It blows me away how fun it is, and easy, especially if you can bring friends in and make a group thing of the work. Say HI anytime - John

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  5. It seems like the recession represents the age old adage that ‘misery loves company’ since it has surely dragged most of us into the abyss of uncertainty, worry and even frustration. I am sick and tired of working so hard and dedicating so much time and effort to my job, university and every other aspect of this wretched life only to have months and years of hardwork destroyed within minutes by the avaricious and wealthy elite..........http://technotecky.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/what-recession/

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