As a recent college graduate in 2006, Maya Donelson knew she wanted to spin her passion for the environment into work that made a difference. The dream job existed—she was confident of that. But where, and doing what?
Just three years later, Donelson, 24, is on top of the world—and has found her answer. She’s created a landmark organic food garden on the rooftop of San Francisco’s venerated Glide Memorial Church, in the heart of the Tenderloin, one of the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Graze the Roof, as Donelson’s program is called, gives children and teens the chance to nurture and nibble delicious foods in an oasis of green. It also offers tours, workshops and a bit of serenity for the public.
Donelson says she drew inspiration for the project, simply enough, from inspirational people.
“I think it’s always the people around me who inspire me,” she says. Case in point: After graduating in 2006 with an environmental/interior design degree from New York’s Syracuse University, Donelson searched for a job and came across a website from green architect and visionary Tullio Inglese, whose Amherst, Massachusetts firm, T.I.A. Architects, designs unique sustainable structures and communities. She won a six-month paid internship with Inglese and helped him on a variety of green projects, including a proposed sustainable city for China, a passive solar house, and a redesign for his website.
“Tulio was my first, true, real-world inspiration,” Donelson says. “He showed me we can truly make a change. He inspired me to believe we can generate sustainable communities and buildings and environments.”
The next turning point came in 2007, after Donelson had moved to the Bay Area and—by serendipity—dropped by an environmental showcase in Berkeley called Green City Gallery, where eco-projects were on display. Donelson had a special fondness for gardening: she’d spent her childhood on a small farm in Western Massachusetts. She was also fascinated by the notion of “living roofs”—things that could, well, take root above the urban fray.
And there at the gallery she met Ingrid Severson from the Oakland-based green nonprofit Bay Localize, who was displaying a small living roof installation. The two women talked about Severson’s project and, a few days later, Donelson emailed Severson to ask if there might be an internship at Bay Localize.
The answer was yes, and Donelson started working on green projects like living roofs, rainwater catchments, and solar power. “At that point, I’d wanted to do a community rooftop garden,” Donelson says. “But with Bay Localize, I learned what was involved and learned the technologies.”
The crux came when Donelson, with Severson’s urging, decided to apply for a $10,000 “Project Slingshot” grant from a partnership of two eco-powers: Focus the Nation and Clif Bar. It was Donelson’s chance to fund her ultimate dream: an edible rooftop garden for children and their neighborhood. When the awards were awarded on Earth Day 2008, Donelson was among the three winners. The only problem: she didn’t have a site yet to build her Eden. Then Glide contacted her, and everything fell into place.
“My work at Bay Localize gave me the gusto and the knowledge I needed to work on a project like this,” Donelson says. “Ingrid Severson was another true inspiration.”
Graze the Roof has come a long way since its summer 2008 launch. In the beginning, volunteers and students from Glide programs helped construct containers and haul dirt to the 1,200-square-foot garden space on the church roof. About 200 children and teens visited the garden during last year’s summer program, which offered hands-on fun with red wrigglers, aphids, and veggie growing.
Today, the rooftop has visitors of all ages—and from countless people in the church’s vast array of services, including free meals, job training, and after-school programs. Kindergarteners play with planting (and eating) the kale, chard, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, summer squash, lettuce, and leafy greens (not to mention the strawberries). Teens use the produce in their cooking classes.
Support for the project has grown as steadily as the food. Last fall, Graze the Roof was included in San Francisco’s Green Zebra coupon book, which donates a percentage of proceeds to eco-programs. “It is really exciting to be the beneficiary,” says Donelson, who expects the coupon books to bring in $3,000 to $5,000. “It should provide a lot of help and awareness about the project.”
On December 12, the garden got another lift when the radio station Alice@9.3 threw a Green Christmas concert in San Francisco with Alanis Morissette, Marc and Richard of O.A.R., and other acts—and donated $3,000 of the proceeds to Graze the Roof. “So I think the momentum is definitely building,” Donelson says.
Today, there is still work to be done. Donelson is applying for grants so she can continue the garden’s educational programs on a regular basis, instead of the current setup of intermittent six-week courses. “We hope we can start up a new educational component in June and then continue it for an entire year. That’s what we’re really pushing for and excited about.”
This spring she’s also getting spirited volunteer help from four students—Hale Sargent, Josephine Quiocho, Caleb Feldman and Maya Oren—who recently graduated from the San Francisco-based nonprofit Garden for the Environment. “They’ve been vital to bringing newfound energy and momentum to the project,” says Donelson. With the aid of the volunteers, Graze the Roof is holding monthly workshops, teaching people the ABC’s of container gardening, giving garden tours, and planning to add more activities in the future.
“Our goal is to involve more and more people from the community” —in the Tenderloin, among the needy, and in the wider, needy world.
“We’re hoping,” says Donelson, who knows optimism seeds success. “We’re really hoping.”
