Grow Macon Incorporated Non-Profit Organization History
Mrs. Myers has grown up around plants her entire life. Her parents have green thumbs, and although she always admired it, she never took to it. After moving to Atlanta, she was looking for a stress management hobby. Her husband found a community garden at a community gym and from there she was hooked. Mentally, spiritually, and emotionally; the act of connecting with Mother Nature did wonders for her. The added benefit of feeding her small family from the things she grew herself gave her joy and peace/piece of mind.
Although being a part of the community garden gave her some peace, she could not help being very aware of the current state of her hometown Macon GA, Fort Hill to be specific. Every other week is was a family member or a classmate, all younger than the age of 25 that were either losing their lives or being badly hurt at the hands of another young person. One night she got a phone call about her sister-in-law who was visiting home from college at party and was shot by a stray bullet. Watching that wonderful, happy, intelligent, business owning, and all-around sweetheart go through all of the things she did just to learn to walk again sent Charm into deep reflection, because although this accident shocked her the most, she had encountered far worse with other family members she cared about. She knew it was time to become a part of the solution because anything less would make her a part of the problem. Thus Grow Macon Inc. was born. Grow Macon is a call to action! Grow Macon is a chance at real change. Although these incident hurt her, they also inspired her to do something to help her community. Providing the community, especially the youth, with opportunity to heal though gardening just as she has started to is the ultimate goal. She believes that when the individual healing starts the mending of communal relations will start to heal.
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. – Audrey Hepburn