Feature: A Feel-Good Story: Can U Dig It? Money For MUG

                  

Not just Pennies from Heaven - A $10,000 Grant Can Help Mesa Urban Grow
Quite often your MesaZona blogger takes advantage of the quiet enjoyment and peace-of-mind in 'this escape' from the ordinary humdrum landscape of First Avenue east of Center Street - gardens, trees, birds, pollinators-at-work.

 The birds are singing and you can hear the chickens in the back clucking. Nice place to be.
It's nice to hear the well-deserving group who started this urban garden, and the volunteers who keep it tended and thriving have been recognized for their efforts and dedication with a grant awarded to the City of Mesa's Parks & Recreation/Community Facilities  Department, as reported by a news channel in Phoenix after a social media post last week and a posting of this image on MUG's website - photo of donation recipients for the organization's website http://mesaurbangarden.org/. 

Mesa Urban Garden is a non-profit community garden managed by a board of passionate Mesa residents. Our team is comprised of dozens of passionate individuals with a wide-range of skill sets. Each person brings their own unique ideas and talents to the garden, and without their efforts, this amazing project wouldn’t exist. More volunteers are always welcome to help the garden grow and celebrate the Mesa Urban Garden getting rooting in the New Urban Downtown Mesa - a 5-Year Anniversary Shin-Dig/Hoe-Down is planned in July. 

Mesa Mayor John Giles had this to say in an upload to YouTube yesterday:

                    
Channel 12 News KPNX TV 4:59 PM. MST May 02, 2017
MESA, Ariz. - The Mesa Urban Garden in a massive citywide effort of 2,938 volunteers at 36 work sites who helped their community on Make a Difference Day. Others in Mesa are working to push the dream of a better community forward.
Image credit: Group photo of donation recipients for Mesa Urban Garden. (Photo: Mesa Urban Garden)                  

Volunteers do this by means of removing trash, painting homes, cleaning yards and alleys, reporting graffiti via smartphones, painting curb address numbers, distributing "neighborhood awareness bags" with information on recycling, smoke detectors and city services and creating a mural for veterans.
The garden operates on a small budget, about $3,000 a year.Michelle Alvis-White organized the group of thousands who volunteered for Mesa's Make A Difference Day.
Alvis-White, who is credited for orchestrating the project, was tragically killed in a car crash on Jan. 20.
Her work was nominated for a grant offered by TEGNA, which owns 12 News. Out of thousands of applications, the nomination on Alvis-White's behalf was selected for the $10,000 grant.
“That could last us for a long, long time,” says Ryan Winkle, founder of Mesa Urban Garden.
The money will be used to grow the garden and preserve what’s already there, like the area dedicated to Michelle Alvis-White. Mesa Parks and Rec gets $10,000 grant for work by organizer who passed away