Summary

Richmond Times Dispatch – Two years ago, Richmond’s Underground Kitchen hosted $150-a-head dinners; now it has a community garden and is feeding people in need – The plantings officially launched the UGK Community First Garden…

Beloit Daily News – Church offers community sharing garden via straw bales – local church is launching a garden on a patch of asphalt to nourish their souls and bodies…

Maine Public – $20M In Federal Paycheck Loans Helped Maine’s Houses Of Worship Survive The Pandemic – While the federal money helped churches pay staff, utilities and embrace online streaming, some, including First United Methodist Church in Bangor, found ways to flourish by trying things they’d never considered before.

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Two years ago, Richmond’s Underground Kitchen hosted $150-a-head dinners; now it has a community garden and is feeding people in need

Richmond Times Dispatch – Richmond, VA

wo years ago, if you had asked Underground Kitchen founder Micheal Sparks and his business partner, Kate Houck, where UGK would be now, they likely wouldn’t have envisioned standing on an acre of freshly plowed earth belonging to a 168-year-old Episcopal church in the easternmost corner of Hanover County, daydreaming about fruit trees and herb gardens and, just maybe, a hothouse for veggies.

They likely would’ve answered back then with some exotic locale — an island in the Caribbean, perhaps — someplace where they could wow guests with their signature ticketed dining experiences that were poised to go international. […]

Church offers community sharing garden via straw bales

Beloit Daily News – Beloit, WI 

Those with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 212 W. Grand Ave. planted the Take and Eat Community Sharing Garden on May 15 in the church’s parking lot. Without much green space, they launched the garden in straw bales.

“When you are in a community authentically, it’s much more about being reciprocal. It’s not us doing for somebody else. It’s us nurturing our own spirits and sharing what we love,” said Aspirant Meg Trimm.

Trimm gathered donations from church goers and supporters and then filled up a pickup truck with around 20 straw bales from Lowe’s.

“They fit perfectly. It was so awesome—15 bales standing up on end and a few in the truck,” Trimm said. […]

$20M In Federal Paycheck Loans Helped Maine’s Houses Of Worship Survive The Pandemic

Maine Public – Bangor, ME

For decades, churches in Maine and the Northeast have seen their memberships shrink. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, they worried that without being able to pass collection plates at services, or to hold fundraisers such as suppers and craft fairs, they would be forced to close their doors forever.

Thanks largely to an influx of approximately $20 million in federal loans that hundreds of Maine religious organizations received, and because of reduced operating costs from shutting down buildings and offices, most of Maine’s houses of worship have survived.

Along with churches and other houses of worship, those organizations include religious schools, food pantries, individual clergy and organizations such as Volunteers of America, whose roots are in the religious social justice movement of the early 20th century, according to a database of Paycheck Protection Program recipients posted online by FederalPay.org. The federal Paycheck Protection Program loans that the groups received enabled them to continue paying nearly 4,000 employees during the pandemic. […]