Consider This...Change This

Consider All This:

...That our Elementary school children walk past this property, and families walk past on their way to the grocery store and back home. Go to the video in post below that the OU social work students made last summer. You will see one piece of property that is by far not the worst of properties here where we live; in fact near this property are some other dozen or so abandoned run down empty burned out buildings most open where children can get to. But this is the property we can start with and has a beautiful view of downtown Tulsa. From a place of turning away from it can be a place of turning toward.

...That our public community centers have been closed down, especially in our lowest income areas like ours, affecting programs for our children...That Our state is dead last as the healthiest state, and our children's health is a big part of that... And consider that our 74126 zip code has the lowest life expectancy in our metropolitan area...We can create here an outside community space for community health, classes, meetings to go along with our inside community space and clinic, so we can use this property for gardens and kitchen and classes in a way that doesn't require people to come to us.

Think about this fact: That 40 percent of the vacant residential properties in our two mile radius have been abandoned...not for sale, not for rent, vacant and abandoned and waiting to become like the properties in the video and those even worse nearby.

That We live in a healthy food desert...When I was in cardiac rehab this last Fall across town after my heart attack the nurses brought out all the healthy brands and said to our class buy these, and I said I couldn't get them on my side of town and was fortunate enough to be able to regularly drive across town unlike most of my neighbors... That the survey we did with OU last summer showed A third in our area feel insecure about feeding themselves and their families with healthy food…oh we have convenience stores and smoke shops galore. But, but, there is not even pizza delivery for thousands who live north of Apache street, and we are talking just a couple of miles from downtown itself.

That next year for our elementary school and all those in the north Tulsa area The Tulsa Public Schools are ending the elementary science/nature classes in schools in our area even though our high school, McLain, has a magnet science programs. The classes were started to help our children get the science and nature background early on so they can take advantage of the magnet program when they reach that age and it won't just be for others with the skills from other areas. That not only are we putting in outdoor classrooms and planning to fill the gap by creating a science and nature extra curricular club since it won't be focused on in the curricula the same, but this property will serve as a classroom.

That week after week, but more it seems the warmer it gets and youth and others are out more but without more "outside" places to go to, the news is full of killings and shootings within our two mile radius. That our one little block project will not be THE answer, but it is A response, risking community and connection and is in a place for reconciliation.

Consider This...Change This. The Welcome Table Kitchen Garden Park Project. Become a part of the Possibility. Pass it Along, again and again and again. Go to the Donate button.