Atlanta - Homelessness/Poverty

Urban metropolae often harbor broken concrete, a bevvy of crabgrass and a populous of displaced souls searching for understanding and solace. And yet, in the bluest of moons, can sanctuary be found. Even in the most desolate pockets of urbanity, asylum exists.

In Atlanta, a city of passerby hurrying through their existence, leaning towards the next platform when their feet have yet to balance on the current, sanctuary manifests itself in a small plot of land situated in historic midtown. Where once dilapidated housing rotted, prospers a verdant arrangement of flowers, vegetables, and trees, covered by the wafting scent of organic compost carried by Georgian spring breezes. A rural Mecca within an urban Arabia, this garden extends from Confederate-era oaks that cast shade unto a small equipment shed to a plastic greenhouse surrounded by organic broccoli and technicolor flower beds. Little needs to be said for the garden's success: the sheer quantity of plants embodies the founder's vision.

Take 12 mid-western collegiate Americans with no agricultural experience, place them in the center of Atlanta, and the garden will prove its usefulness. Like a synapse firing to its prime action potential, like a filament igniting between two strips of metal, like a child experiencing autumn for the first time, magic happened. Hands grasped shovels, soles buried into loam, skin absorbed rays of warm southern sun, and hearts began to accept a different, more sustainable approach to urban life.

After hours of devotion to something greater than technology, then Facebook and Netflix, than purses and boots, than self-interest... came clarity. That clarity, after firm handshakes with proprietors and some tense formalities, carried the same 12 green, curious youth to a state of self-actualization. They traded their sweat for a day of peace; they left sun-bathed, calloused and better for wear, while a small plot of land in the middle of Atlanta prospered, ever-lush, waiting for the next lucky few to grace its soil.