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specifically so we could hire a part-time administrator, Dana Ferguson, and pay for translation and other items. <br />Galilee acts as her employer and the grant money is in a separate RSG Fund. This was very timely because our <br />beloved co-founder, Sherry Sanders, was dealing with health issues and had to cut back on her time. Sherry has <br />been essential in our success due to her close ties to officials in the city of Roseville. They have been providing <br />large compost piles each year, often all summer allowing the gardeners to supplement their garden soil. We <br />have also received piles of gravel from SPRWS to build up our driveway and parking areas. <br />The Covid pandemic, starting in March 2020, caused major changes. After deep consideration, the gardens <br />continued that year and in 2021. All our planning meetings went on Zoom, and we distributed "safe gardening" <br />rules to all the gardeners. These rules were posted everywhere in multiple languages. We asked gardeners to <br />use caution in cleaning the tools. Soap bars were hung on each water tank, and we dropped our usual summer <br />celebrations. Instead of having in person training sessions we created videos in three different languages <br />(English, Karen and Nepali) that gardeners were asked to watch from our website. Plot fees were collected <br />during a drive through, and instructions were handed into the car windows. Many people also paid by mail or by <br />using our website and PayPal. This worked very well and we have not gone back to in person training. <br />We organize work days where many gardeners come to help maintain the gardens. Mowing the lawns, <br />which originally was done by a team of six, has now been taken over by one senior gardener, Lu Shwe (aka Mr. <br />Lu). Other gardeners keep the water tanks full, turn over compost piles, and perform a dozen other tasks. RSG is <br />an organic garden where pesticides and chemical fertilizers are forbidden. Each year a huge pile of plant <br />material is deposited along a road, turned over and pushed back to create compost soil for the next spring. All <br />the plots are chopped down to under ten inches and fences removed by mid -October, to fulfill the requirements <br />of our agreement with SPRWS. <br />RSG has had its share of positive notoriety. We were featured in a newscast on KSTP (which can be viewed in <br />the movie on our website). There have been favorable long articles about the gardens in both the Pioneer Press <br />and the Star Tribune. In 2017 we received the Horticultural Society Governor's Certificate of Commendation. <br />Pastor Dana Nelson receives several requests each year for church youth groups to visit and help at the gardens. <br />Groups from as far away as North Dakota and Iowa enjoyed learning about our diverse gardeners and helping <br />out. Mostly, we ask them to help pick up trash. <br />As we finish our seventh growing season, we are very grateful to the people who have helped along the way, <br />and we are proud of what we have accomplished with a small army of volunteer, no experience, no government <br />money, and only the dream of building a community garden to help in people's lives. <br />