After a year in which people stayed apart, two Berkley communities are starting the new year growing together.
Throughout the summer and autumn, Yad Ezra, a Jewish nonprofit that provides kosher food to Jewish families in need, partnered with neighboring Our Lady of La Salette Church in Berkley to expand its food-growing operation with the Genesis Garden, a community growing space for crops to donate to people of all faiths.
The partnership began after Yad Ezra, a 30-year-old food pantry located on 11 Mile, contacted Our Lady of La Salette about using 5,000 square feet of parish property to expand the Jewish nonprofit’s Giving Gardens program in conjunction with a garden the Catholic parish had already established.