L.O.V.E Garden

Maybe you’ve seen our award-winning film “WALKING WHILE BLACK: L.O.V.E. Is The Answer” and/or you’ve read A.J. Ali’s transformative book, “L.O.V.E. Is The Answer.” Now what? Well, we want viewers and readers to become doers by putting L.O.V.E. into action in tangible ways in their community. L.O.V.E. = Learn about others, Open your heart to their needs, Volunteer yourself to be part of the solution in their lives and Empower others to do the same.

Here’s one idea about how to put L.O.V.E. into action in your community. We are encouraging people who have seen our film, or have read our book, or have been to one of our workshops or conferences, to team up on garden and art projects to create lasting, living monuments to unity in the community. We hope to inspire L.O.V.E. Gardens including public art projects in all 50 states and on every continent!

Help in the creation of a L.O.V.E. Garden in your community. We are looking for schools, ministries, nonprofits, police departments, city governments, county governments, homeowners associations, and other groups to work with us to create L.O.V.E. Gardens.

Special things happen when people in a community come together to create a garden!

People of all ages can learn valuable skills.
It’s great therapy for people with Post Traumatic Stress, depression, anxiety and other health issues.
Relationships develop and grow stronger. People come together in a common unity (community). Strangers become friends, and friends become like family.
Peace officers and members of the community they serve can get past the stereotypes to know each other, improving safety and health for everyone.
Veterans can make the garden their mission, making a difference for the community while using it to improve their own physical and mental health.
Food insecurity can be reduced by getting nutritious, organic food to those who need it most.
The community can take pride in doing something positive together.
Every organic garden heals the earth a little bit — and every little bit helps!
And much more.

Imagine a garden built for young people to learn how to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs & spices. They’ll learn about responsibility and management and so much more.

Now imagine that garden being designed and built by peace officers, young people, older people, and elders — all coming together to learn from each other, help each other grow, help each other heal, and empower our young people for a brighter future!

Now imagine at the center of that garden is a beautiful piece of art, designed by art students from local schools, made from materials donated by everyone in the neighborhood, with all the pieces spelling out the giant letters L.O.V.E. and a plaque at the base of it sharing the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer principles of Learning about each other, Opening our hearts to each other, Volunteering to be part of the solution in each other’s life, and Empowering others to do the same.

Now imagine in front of those L.O.V.E. letters there is a small area for educational talks, spoken word, acoustic music performances by neighborhood artists, and other activities that can bring people together for positive, community-building experiences.

Now imagine helping to make that possible in an area that needs hope, needs community, and needs love.

Now share this with a friend or two, and let’s get to work together to make it happen. We’re here to help, like with ideas about how to use our film and book to raise funds for your local L.O.V.E. Garden, with contacts to potential project partners, and even help finding funding assistance in some areas. If you are interested in creating a L.O.V.E. Garden, send an email to ajaliwins@gmail.com.

L.O.V.E. Is The Answer is distributing matching grants up to $500 to a limited number of gardens that agree to abide by these simple operating rules (email ajaliwins@gmail.com if interested):

The name must be L.O.V.E. Garden. With approval by L.O.V.E. Is The Answer, it can be named after a person in memoriam and it can include the name of the community in the title. For example, we are planning the creation of a “Congressman Elijah Cummings L.O.V.E. Garden” in Baltimore.
Peace officers, returning citizens, disabled veterans, elders (age 70 and over), students (teens) must be involved (with each of those five groups having a Liaison appointed to the garden committee) along with other community members in the building and management of the garden. At least one member of the committee must participate in the monthly L.O.V.E. Is The Answer Coalition Zoom meeting and give a progress report.
It may be located on pubic or private land, but the garden must be managed by a nonprofit organization.
At least half of the food must be given away to food insecure people in the community, with preference to the elderly, disabled, and those who volunteer in the garden.
Up to half of the food grown in the garden may be sold, with all net profits going back into maintaining the garden and educating people about the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer principles.
Micro-businesses may operate from the garden in weekly “farmers-market” style, and a cafe may operate daily from the garden, as long as a minimum of 10% of the gross revenue is contributed back to garden operations. If micro-businesses and/or a cafe operate from the garden, free ongoing business education assistance must be made available to the operators, and preference must be given to returning citizens to own and operate the cafe and micro-businesses.
A paid manager position may be created if there is local funding to support that position.
Must include L.O.V.E. letter artwork incorporating the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer pledge, a space for meditation, a space for music and other assemblies, a space with a table and seating for instruction, space for a mural, covered or enclosed space for gatherings during inclement weather, storage shed.
Must be pesticide and chemical free to the greatest extent possible.
Must incorporate L.O.V.E. Is The Answer social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, reconciliation, and anti-racism tools, such as the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer film, book and Mentoring Circles, in programming.
All volunteers and staff must agree to abide by the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer Pledge in the garden and in the community: I pledge to LEARN about the people in my community, to unconditionally OPEN my heart to their needs as if they were all immediate family members, to VOLUNTEER to be part of the solution in their life during both good and challenging times, and to EMPOWER everyone I meet to do the same as if our lives depended on each other.
At least four committee members must graduate from the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer Mentoring Circle Basic Training Class within six months of the garden opening in order to maintain status of being a L.O.V.E. Garden. Four spots in the class will be donated to the committee ($796 total value donation). See https://loveistheanswermovement.com/mentoring/ for details.