Calling all Volunteers and Community Partners

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou Our first trauma-focused garden is scheduled to be installed during the summer of 2019 at Cumberland Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Fayetteville, NC. It is more than a garden, it is an outdoor landscape, which has been designed…

Community Volunteer Stories Form

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou We would love to share your story and highlight the skills you bring to this project.   Photo Credit: Erda Estremera

Introducing our First Trauma Focused Therapeutic Garden

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”  ― Kurt Vonnegut Cumberland Youth Development Center Our first trauma-focused garden is scheduled to be installed during the summer of 2019 at Cumberland Regional…

Plate Sale for a Cause on June 28, 2019

Purchase $8 chicken plates and help bring a therapy garden to youth and staff at Cumberland Juvenile Detention Center in Fayetteville, NC! PRE-ORDER BY JUNE 21 COST: $8 PER PLATE Chicken, Potato Salad, Green Beans & Slice of Cake Pre-order and pay your plates now and select the number of plates you want to pre-order. Order…

Cumberland Juvenile Detention Center Garden Update

We are very fortunate to be working with a variety of highly skilled and trained experts in the Fayetteville and broader North Carolina area. Over the past three weeks, our planning committee has grown to include community volunteers from Cape Fear Botanical Gardens, Fayetteville Technical Community College, veterans organizations, research faculty from Duke University, and…

Fundraiser for Cumberland Juvenile Detention Center Garden

Create a Living Legacy Join us as we work together to create an exciting positive social change and make trauma-focused therapeutic community gardens a reality. “The success of this project is that everyone has a valuable part to play. These gardens are being built by the community for the community. They are owned by the…

Creating a Legacy One Garden at a Time

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou This garden design was created for Whitaker PRTF.  This garden was designed and researched by Natasha Donnelly, Ph.D. and psychologist Carol Williams (safety, therapeutic concepts, and other sensory…

Sensory Gardens to Promote Healing at Juvenile Facilities

This article was originally published on January 8, 2018 by Diana Kees. According to the 18th century English poet Alfred Austin, “To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” Dr. Natasha Donnelly, assistant manager of Juvenile Health Services, is the brainchild behind the project that will bring specially designed…

Restorative and Healing Powers of Nature and Gardens

By Oliver Sacks Dr. Sacks was a neurologist and author. He died in 2015. This is an excerpt from “Everything in Its Place,” a posthumous collection of writings by Dr. Sacks. “I have lived in New York City for 50 years, and living here is sometimes made bearable for me only by its gardens. This…

Ist Annual “Art Expression in the Garden” fundraiser was held April 21

This magical event was themed around using nature and artistry to navigate the labyrinth of life. Held on 21st April at 4pm in the beautiful gardens of the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. This project will fund the building of gardens designed around trauma recovery initiatives for at-risk youth. The focus is to provide safe…