May 10, 2024
The Sister St. Mark Garden Fund helps community gardens to flourish and fulfills the Sisters' mission of unity with God and neighbor.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, PA, this year have awarded grants to 23 community gardens in the region to help them reduce food insecurity and provide fresh produce to families in their neighborhoods.
Among the 2024 grant recipients are Providence Heights Alpha School in Allison Park, which will purchase a hydroponic garden for its horticulture club to grow produce for soup kitchens and flowers for nursing home residents; Community Partnerships, Inc. in Butler, which will purchase seeds and supplies to transition from buying established plants to nurturing seedlings to support a mobile market that sells discounted produce boxes in food deserts; Greater Valley Community Services in Braddock, which will increase its produce production by purchasing fencing and ground barriers to protect garden beds and greenhouse fans to support healthy plant growth; and Fern Hollow Nature Center in Sewickley, which will expand its community garden area to include a sensory garden for therapeutic and immersive experience for all ages and abilities.
“By promoting sustainability in our neighborhoods, we are also building relationships among collaborators who share in our values and appreciate the bounty of Earth,” says Sister Lyn Szymkiewicz, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph Leadership Team who planted the seed for the establishment of the Sister St. Mark Garden Fund.
Since 2019, the Sister St. Mark Garden Fund has awarded 66 grants totaling $41,720. This year’s grant recipients are:
- Aliquippa Green, Aliquippa
- B.F. Jones Memorial Library, Aliquippa
- Center for Coalfield Justice, Washington
- Community Partnerships, Inc., Butler
- Fern Hollow Nature Center, Sewickley
- Firefly Gardens, Washington
- Friends of the Chippewa Branch Library, Chippewa
- Garfield Community Farm, Pittsburgh
- Greater Valley Community Services, Braddock
- Hazelwood Community Garden, Pittsburgh
- Holy Family Institute, Pittsburgh
- House of Prayer Lutheran Church, Aliquippa
- Jacks Garden, Pittsburgh
- New Brighton Kids Garden, New Brighton
- Project Love Coalition, Pittsburgh
- Providence Heights Alpha School, Allison Park
- Rochester Area School District, Rochester
- Sharpsburg Market Garden, Sharpsburg
- St. Benedict the Moor Parish, Pittsburgh
- St. Vincent de Paul Monastery Community Gardens, Hollidaysburg
- The Pittsburgh Project, Pittsburgh
- Turtle Creek Watershed & Airshed Communities, Harrison City
- Uncommon Grounds, Aliquippa
The awards, ranging from $250 to $900 each, will not only help fund materials such as tools, plants, and seeds, but also engage and educate community residents about gardening and healthy nutrition. The grants are funded, in part, from proceeds from the Sisters of St. Joseph annual farm-to-table fund-raising dinner called Faith. Field. Feast. which takes place each fall on their Motherhouse grounds in Baden.
On their 80-plus-acre grounds, the Sisters directly address food insecurity with two community gardens. Between 2012 to 2023, the Sisters donated 19,934 pounds of fresh produce to area food banks and soup kitchens. Chickens, part of the Motherhouse ecosystem since 2014, have also contributed 561 dozen eggs, a high-quality, affordable source of protein for neighbors in need.
The Sisters also partner with several organizations in Beaver County and use their gardens and grounds to provide job training for at-risk teens and adults with barriers to employment.
About Sister St. Mark:
Sister St. Mark Lesko, who was born on July 1, 1894, entered the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. John Parish in Johnstown, PA. She worked most of her religious life in the laundry of St. Joseph Hospital on Pittsburgh’s Southside. When the doctors felt that Sister’s lungs were weakening from constant exposure to lint in the laundry, they advised her to change to an “open air” ministry. Sister St. Mark was then placed in charge of the farm at the Motherhouse in Baden at a time (circa 1946) when the Sisters depended on it for much of their own food. Sister St. Mark was a gentle, quiet woman who spent her life in humble, untiring service. She died in 1960, just nine days after her 66th birthday