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A Waterloo church has found a new and very productive use for some excess land it owns. St. John‘s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Willow Street, with some help from the Food Bank of Waterloo Region and the City of Waterloo, has started up a community garden this spring on land it owns immediately east of the church itself. The grand opening of the St. John‘s Good Earth Garden took place this past May 22. â€" ut givcs-pcople a chance to grow fresh vegetables," said Katherâ€" ine Altenburg, a student intern minister at the church who was one of the driving forces behind the development of the garden Altenburg said in an interview last Friday she originally conâ€" tacted the food bank this past Tall to gather some information about the food bank‘s ‘collective kitchen‘ program. At that time, Elba Martell, an official with the food bank, not only sent Altenburg information about the kitchen program but also sent her information about setting up a community garden as well. "That idea kind of caught on with a lot of people in the congreâ€" gation," Altenburg said. _ "And the bigge;l idea is just to create some community here in the area. We have all this land back here, and we thought we might as well be using it to create something good." With the leadership of congregation member Svend Sorenson and pastor Doug Kranz, the community garden began to take shape. City of Waterloo staff members tilled the land for the garâ€" den this spring and also donated compost and wood chips to creâ€" ate paths between the garden‘s eventual 36 plots. How does their garden grow? People actually began plantings in the 10â€"foot by 12â€"foot plots in midâ€"May, Altenburg said, with people both from the congregaâ€" tion and the nearby neighborhood choosing plots. Approximately 50 people are now growing vegetables and flowers in the garden. LAZâ€"BOY Spring in today for the freshest selection of d cin s A +5 7 JesmlarEt®®® LAZ_BOY looks at the best savings of the season! [fi S 49 >â€"frule & o‘"r P‘ g K 4* Hipbesciad .-,‘,i%;. t (PPFPp> <~ HURRY... LIMITED TIME ONLY! â€" Praaitigss ij \ ,’.‘- CC -‘; éi ;", . a T *4 * YA 77 ovri/Jj% Qâ€" ® C e =< | @ yXE RSp> ~ fa eR Ch iC 6 . % .‘,}‘. g&‘lv * ,*v"u?g;‘_.tg.p; P % O ~Cfs B K+ T Church group finds productive use for excess land Katherine Whitney (left), Michelle Cooper and Vitina Blumenthal led last Saturday‘s Walk of Hope from the Seagram Drive soccer field to the Waterloo Recreation Complex. The walk was organized by the Waterloo Region Community Health Department and was held to raise public awareness about the number of people killed annually in alcoholâ€"related car crashes. PAGFK 3 Walking to stop drunk driving Tim Gardner Chronicle Staff Spring in today for the freshest selection of LAZâ€"BOY" looks at the best savings of the season 4 c ©~ HURRY.. LIMITED TIME ONLY! Melany Cooke, a single mother who is a member of the conâ€" gregation and lives nearby, said in an interview last Fnday there is a very practical reason why she decided to get involved in the garâ€" den "The reason that 1 got personally involved in it was because I‘m a farmer with no land right now," Cooke said. "And there‘s the food. 1 need the food. I‘m a lowâ€"income person who‘s got to do it myself or it‘s not going to get done. And that‘s the small end of the story." Lloyd Rock, a retiree who currently lives on the 12th floor of nearby Water Park Place, said in an interview last Friday he became involved in the garden after a woman told him about the project at a booth at the Dandelion Festival held at Waterloo Park May 24. Rock last grew a vegetable garden at his home in Kitchâ€" ener in 1992, before he moved into Water Park Place in 1993. "And we hope to see if we can get a little bit of a yield," he said. "We like the fresh vegetables out of the garden rather than out of the store because they don‘t have all that spray and wax on them." Nicole Desaunier, a student at the University of Waterloo, said she became involved in the garden because this summer marked her first summer away from home in Chatham and she wanted to do some organic gardening partly because it helped remind her of home and partly because she was currently taking a ‘Sustainable Agriculture‘ course at school. She became aware of the garden because her roommate was a member of the garden‘s organization committee. When asked if he enjoyed working in a garden again, Rock said there was nothing like getting his hands back into the soil "For me, there‘s the learning aspect of it," Desaunier said, when asked about some of the things she enjoyed about the garden. "Because there‘s a lot of gardeners here who have been doing this for a few years. So I can ask them questions like, How much do I water?" and, ‘How much compost should 1 put on?" questions that I‘d rather know firstâ€"hand from a gardener who‘s been doing Tim Gardmer photo A Theatre owner asks @ city for business loan After roughly one year in business, the general manager of the Waterloo Stage Theatre is asking the City of Waterloo for a business loan. Steve Roth formally requested the loan from the city in a letter to Waterloo Mayor Joan McKâ€" innon dated May 4. Uptown Coun. Brent Needâ€" ham, council‘s haison with the city‘s cultural community, released the letter at Waterloo‘s last council meeting May 25 The private theatre company began operation in the old Waterloo Theatre at 24 King St. North on May 14, 1997. "The reason for writing this letter is that we could use assistance in continuing to do what it is we are doing in uptown Waterloo at the Tim Gardner Chromicle Staff Rhea Spofford, 1 1/2, and her mother Sheryl watered their plot last Friday at the new community garden located behind St. John‘s Evangelical Lutheran Church. it for a few years." o0 Altenburg said with the apparent success of the garden, church officials hope that it will become an annual feature at the church, "We hope that it will continue for a lot of years," she said. "It‘s still sort of in the experimental phase. But it seems to be working well." Waterloo Stage Theatre," Roth wrote in his letâ€" ter. "I have no doubts that we will ‘make it‘, but it would be extremely helpful to get financial assisâ€" tance from the city," Roth continued. "We are not asking for a donation but rather a loan to assist us in that critical ‘getting over the hump‘ stage." "I also know that you are not a bank and this is not what you normally do, but if there is any way to consider this request, we would be grateâ€" ful," Roth wrote Council unanimously passed a motion to refer Roths request to city staff for consideration at the May 25 meeting. The city‘s chief financial officer, John Ford, said Monday he hoped to contact Roth about setting up an appotntment to (Continued on page 5} DEPENDABLE SERVICE SINCE 1959 46 King St. N., Waterloo 886â€"2040 CLOSED SUNDAY AND MONDAY TUESDAY â€" THURSDAY 9â€"5:30 FREE Sigly s PARKING AT FRONT & REAR OF STORE ((CzalBay s Finest