SPOKANE, Wash. – A community project is helping refugees in Spokane feel more at home.
With the help of volunteers and several organizations, the International Rescue Committee started the New Roots Garden in North Spokane about three months ago.
“This is an outlet for being outside, a safe space to be outside, to be in nature, to be literally touching something green,” IRC health education coordinator Dempsey Jorgenson said.
The New Roots Garden grows both ingredients you might see in your local grocery store as well as others you might not.
Arzoo Arian is originally from Afghanistan. She moved to Spokane with her family two years ago.
Arian said one of her favorite vegetables is Gandana, a staple ingredient in Afghani cooking.
“We can’t find it here in Spokane, that is why we grow it,” said Arian.
The New Roots garden has given her the opportunity to bring her favorite ingredients from home to her family again.
“You are able to actually physically put your hands in the dirt and you are able to grow something and bring that food to your family. That is this new community, this new land you are living in becomes a little bit more a part of you,” Jorgenson said.
The IRC said the garden is the first outdoor meeting space for refugees in Spokane. Jorgenson said that one of the best parts has been seeing the joy once harvest comes in and the way the community has shared the produce they have grown.
“One of my favorite things I have seen is the excitement they have whenever something is ripe,” Jorgenson said. “It is like ‘We worked really hard and we have a radish to show for it, a leek to show for it.'”
IRC said there are multiple ways to help in its mission to provide for refugees in the are. You can make donations online or apply for one of their volunteer opportunities.
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