Growing a Living Garden for Mercy Home

For years, Mercy Home has said that it provides young people with "roots and wings". This summer, we're taking this motto literally—at least the part about the roots, anyway.

That's because our young people are joining together to cultivate a small plot of land on our West Side Chicago campus to create a living, working vegetable garden. The garden will be a wellspring of life, growth, and healing right in the heart of urban Chicago.

Named in honor of a Mercy Home alum and recently-retired coworker, the John DePalma Living Garden will provide our young people with fresh, local fruits and vegetables, and serve as a hands-on, outdoor classroom. By nurturing the DePalma garden, our young people will learn about healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, and conservation. They will discover the satisfaction that comes from the bounty of their own hard work. And, they will reap some of life's most valuable insights—teamwork, patience, and responsibility.

Above all, the garden will be a place of peace, a calming oasis in the lives of young men and women who have suffered many storms before coming to Mercy Home. We hope you will consider helping us provide this healing space for our young people.

The garden will also be a place for our own John DePalma, who has served Mercy Home for almost 37 years, a place to enjoy much-deserved quiet and relaxation. Mr. DePalma is an avid gardener and has volunteered some of his post-retirement time to manage the plot.

If you would like to support the garden, click here to purchase a packet of seeds, a plant or a plot of land in the garden.

Click here to sign up for email updates about the John DePalma Living Garden and other news from Mercy Home for Boys & Girls.