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Currently 35% of our gardeners have Nepali/Bhutanese backgrounds, 25% are Karen/Burmese, 10% Hmong, and the remaining 30% speak English well. More details about this are in a later section. Gardeners live mostly in St. Paul, Maplewood, Roseville, and Little Canada. They all benefit physically from working in the gardens. For some, a walk to see what others are growing is part of their daily routine. We have also tried to provide health checks, e.g., blood pressure & glucose, dental, vision, and Covid, with information pamphlets and advice about local clinics. During the coronavirus pandemic, we organized vaccination opportunities at the gardens for 80 people. Finally, it is important to understand the deep value of RSG to the community in general. As the gardeners provide food for their families, they also get to meet people from their own cultural background and many from other cultures. They are learning ways to adjust to life in America and teach one another. Preserving connections to their own culture is important not just for the gardener but for the psychological health of their entire family. They are more likely to see the U.S. as a welcoming land with people who care about them. It often takes several generations for families to fully adapt to U.S. life. People who stop along the busy Rice Street for a glance at the gardens will see lush tall green plants, gardeners with tools working to contribute to their families, and they will remember how the generations of families past, like their own, have learned to become valuable citizens. 2. History of the Rice Street Gardens The stories of how RSG began and the ways it has operated are very interesting and instructive. Galilee Lutheran Church (Galilee) had considered the idea of creating a community garden on its own land, and was frightened when over fifty families showed up, looking for a plot, at an evening meeting that hadn't even been advertised. There clearly was a need for gardens in the area. Galilee, located across Rice Street from the current RSG, quickly backed off from taking full responsibility. We also didn't really have enough land to deal with the rlamand In 2015, Katheryn Schneider, a local activist, asked for a meeting with Galilee's pastor Dana Nelson and others, including Ron Peterson. She had learned that a large area across Rice Street had been purchased by the