Give the Gift of Connection and adopt a Story Garden this season!
My best memory of all is watching my granddaughter interact with all the people that were connected with the Story Garden. My granddaughter just blossomed. She would look forward to every Saturday because that’s what she wanted to do. She wanted to come to the flea market and go to the Story Garden. And now she’s eight years old and still doing the same thing.
- Andy, Community Supporter, Gallup Story Garden
Story Gardens create connections. Interwoven with the colorful blankets, quality books and fun educational activities are opportunities for different kinds of human connection.
STORY GARDEN CONNECTS…
Story Garden connects children with undiscovered talents and interests.
Gathering regularly and reliably for quality children's activities and storytelling opens doors for children to get in touch with talents, skills, and interests they might not yet have found or had the opportunity to develop. These experiences build confidence and futures.
When children in the Brownsville, New York, Story Garden made their own self portraits, Quamaine shared, “What makes me proud of myself is my culture and part of it is hip hop. That’s why I drew myself with a gold chain in place of my mouth.”
Story Garden connects neighbors, strengthening the community.
Story Gardens are always held in the same outdoor location and intentionally connect the people and organizations within a community. Neighbors of all ages can get to know each other better and become more familiar with local support and resources. This creates a stronger and safer neighborhood.
They work with the other communities to bring the community and the people together. - Lorena, Community Supporter, Gallup Flea Market
Here it makes me feel nice, comfortable and calm. … It means a lot to me and everyone that’s here at Story Garden. - Jamie, age 10, Gallup Story Garden
Story Garden connects generations, opening opportunities to learn and teach.
Adults in the community are encouraged to share what they know at Story Garden, as elders and experts of culture and know-how. This creates an outdoor classroom for teaching and learning between generations.
For these [adult] students, the Story Garden became a wonderful outdoor classroom to share what they knew while developing the skills that academia was often determined to thwart.
The younger students, embarrassed by their difficulty reading in class, were suddenly proud of their abilities as they read to children at the Story Garden. The Elder students directed the construction of a shade structure at the Story Garden, teaching several young classmates carpentry and the Navajo (Diné) language along with team work and traditional wisdom.
- Laura, Educator, Storyteller, Community Weaver, Member of ATD Fourth World USA Board of Directors
Story Garden connects nonresidents with beautiful realities of disrespected neighborhoods.
Story Gardens are held in places that have reputations of being neighborhoods or communities of an underclass that are undeserving or even dangerous. Story Garden facilitators and volunteers coming into these communities learn the realities of people full of love, determination and knowledge in the face of difficulties. This breaks down the stigma and shame attached to the community.
What I like about the ATD Fourth World Festival of Arts and Learning is that it challenged my preconceptions, fueled by media outlets, that Brownsville is the most dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Even though Brownsville is an under-resourced area, I saw that there is so much community love and strength within. This experience changed me to be open-minded and to make decisions based on firsthand experiences.
- Michelle, ATD Fourth World Communications Intern and Festival of Arts Facilitator
