On a beautiful sunny May afternoon, a dozen third, fourth and fifth graders from First Baptist Church sit perched on the lawn behind the Wayne County Public Library prepared to plant “seeds of happiness, joy, and peace”.

The vision for the garden came in the middle of the night to Shorlette Stevens, Children's librarian, after an incident of racial prejudice at the library. Donna Phillips, Assistant Director of the library, asked, “Why would a thing like this happen here and what could we do to make things better for our children?”

Friends in the community came together, helping to make the vision a reality. Former CEFS Small Farm Unit Manager, Bryan Green, and Project Coordinator, Megan Riley, began designing the 50' x 50' garden in January 2006, and broke ground the following spring. Their idea was to create a space that promotes awareness of and appreciation for our diverse cultures. A Peace Pole stands in the center of the garden inscribed with the words “May peace prevail on Earth” in the four major languages of Goldsboro—English, Spanish, Indian, and Chinese.

“We're turning a negative experience into a positive one”, says Shorlette, “by creating a venue where people from different cultural backgrounds can get together.”

”Food is the best way to bring people together, especially in the South,” jokes Shorlette. Not only does the Peace Garden present opportunities for communing with neighbors, it also provides physical activity and healthy food, without the use of pesticides. Getting rid of weeds is accomplished by many small hands belonging to the after-school children. They make short work of it, too. In addition to weeding and watering, all kinds of multigenerational learning activities are taking place in the garden: bee keeping, vermiculture, environmental education, fitness activities, creative writing, and painting.

The kids from First Baptist Church come from diverse cultural backgrounds. They work together harmoniously to plant the new garden. “We thought, let the kids lead and the adults will follow”, says Shorlette. This year, children will be teaching adults about community service through sharing. They will donate a portion of each harvest to the Community Soup Kitchen on West Oak Street .

“Oh, we come here all the time”, says Skye Karr as her two year old daughter, Sunny, helps water the new plants. “Last year we regularly weeded the garden on our way to the park.”

The Community Peace Garden is catching on as more and more people take part in this community building project. CEFS continues to help with various aspects of the garden from seed selection and propagation to planting and maintenance. In the years to come, CEFS hopes to assist in educational programs that focus on the importance of nutrition and the benefits of local and sustainable food.

For more information about the Community Peace Garden, contact Shorlette Ammons-Stevens, Children's Librarian at the Wayne County Public Library (919) 736-1824 ext. 5104.