Georgetown Gospel Chapel
Seattle, WA

Community Garden, Rainwater Reclamation & Energy Efficiency In The Inner City

by Lisa Unger
Dandelions Unlimited Volunteer

The Georgetown Gospel Chapel located in Seattle, Washington tells a unique story about how a small urban church can make a big difference in its community. The story begins with one inspired and committed pastor by the name of Leroy Hedman. In 1984 Pastor Hedman decided he wanted to start a vegetable garden to help feed his family, utilizing the church grounds where he and his family lived. When the old sprinkler system failed, they chose to remove it all together. This opened up the grounds for more gardens, including flower gardens which were initially funded by memorial donations from the congregation and volunteers who worked in the gardens. As the gardens flourished, between $3,000 – $5,000 was spent annually to expand and maintain them; these funds came from both tithing and donations, as well as the pastor’s personal funds. Much of the work was done by the youth of the church; Pastor Hedman attributes their reputation as one of the most active youth groups in the area to their volunteer work in the gardens. The youth are introduced to basic Earth-care principles and activities through a recreation/tutoring/mentoring program. The youth have also adopted their street, and work together to keep it clean.

The vegetable gardens help feed the congregation as well as the broader community, who often must decide between paying for rent, utilities, or food. The vegetables are “free for the taking”--no one is turned away, and as long as they respect the gardens, they can help themselves. The flower gardens help support habitat in an otherwise urban area which gives refuge to birds and other animals. Pastor Hedman feels that caring for the environment is part of being a good Christian. Chapel members work with Pastor Hedman, a certified master gardener/composter, to help build gardens for neighbors as well, providing them with seeds and gardening/composting training. The church makes their own compost to use on the gardens from yard and food waste; the church has pamphlets available to those interested in learning how to do this at home. The gardens are grown in accordance with organic practices. They do not use any pesticides or herbicides in the garden; the pastor says the strongest thing he uses is beer to rid the garden of snails.

The Chapel also has a water reclamation system which catches and stores rainwater which can later be used for watering the gardens. This system not only saves money on utility bills, but also prevents storm water (with its chemicals from neighboring lawns, industries and leaked oil from cars) from running directly into the adjacent, salmon-bearing Duwamish River. The river, sacred to the Native American Duwamish people, is already a Superfund site.

This water-saving system was set up by one of the congregation's own members who worked as a firefighter; he supplied the materials and did all the work himself as a donation to the chapel. See the resources below for the link to a website with directions on how to set up a similar system at your own church or home.

As other congregations have discovered, making a church more energy efficient not only helps protect the environment, it also saves money. For example, when Georgetown Gospel Chapel made its existing church buildings more energy-efficient, it cut $5,000 a year from its annual budget of $55,000. The parishioners at Georgetown Gospel Chapel are doing their part; they now take their baptismal waters cold. The pastor has unplugged the electricity-guzzling heater in the immersion baptism tank behind his pulpit. He has also installed energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs throughout the church. In 1999, Georgetown became the first U.S. church to be awarded an Energy Star Award from the Environmental Protection Agency for its use of energy-efficient appliances, lighting, heating, and cooling, which Hedman said has cut its electricity bill down to $25 a month. The pastor estimates that with all the above changes and improvements in the daily operations of the church, he was able to approximately cut his combined gas, water, and electrical bills in half. That money is now used for missions, a Christian camp, and enhanced community outreach, including the community gardens.

As of last year Pastor Hedman is now retired, though he happily added that the new pastor is enthusiastic about taking over the care of the gardens. Even though he has retired as pastor, he is still very much involved with the church and in maintaining the gardens. He also works as a volunteer for Earth Ministry, which is an organization that helps educate and support other churches that want to “go green” as Georgetown Gospel Chapel did; see a link to their website below. His philosophy is that if you show people your good works, then they will see and want to help, and that was certainly his experience. Georgetown’s story would seem to be a unique one as judged by the many articles that have been written about it over the years (see resources below), but certainly one that can be duplicated with enough enthusiasm and a desire to become educated in the possibilities.

Resources

Earth Ministry website

Slide show of Georgetown story on Earth Ministry website

Instructions for building rainwater reclamation system

Links to articles written about Georgetown Gospel Chapel

Seattle Times: “Spreading the Good Dirt,” 9/20/08

Washington Post: "The Greening of Evangelicals," 2/6/05

Christianity Today: "Seven Steps to Power Savings," Jan/Feb 2001

Charisma Magazine: "Christians Urged to Care for the Earth." 5/17/08

American Forests: "Building Faith in the Environment," Summer 2005



We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow
We come to work the land in common and to make the waste ground grow
This Earth divided, we shall make whole
And it will be a common treasury for all
Leon Rosselson, The World Turned Upside Down (Also known as The Diggers Song)