Leanna Sweet, AmeriCorps worker for the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County, considers words to live by as she witnesses and participates in the unfolding of CRCMC's healing garden.

Go to the people.
Live among them.
Learn from them.
Love them.
Start with what you know.
Build on what they have.
But of the best leaders,
When their task is done,
The people will remark
"We have done it ourselves."
-- from Lao Tzu

And, indeed, this is what has transpired in the past months -- a garden created by and for the community.

"When I created the idea to form a healing garden at the center, I wanted a chance for it to be the community's project," Leanna reflects. "Just putting the efforts into creating this healing space - whether it's digging, designing stepping stones, or spreading mulch - is all very healing in itself. The process of creating something lasting impacts each person who adds to it: this alone is amazing to witness. Then, watching the ripple effects produced by every piece that's added to the gardenŠ that's where we can witness the more vivid effects of this healing garden -- in the people who pause and smile, reflect, or even just take the time to stop and smell the flowers. So many people can return to the garden and truly feel like they have become a part of it, or that a piece of their loved one's memory is living on."

Beginning with Leanna's vision of a garden created by our community, over the past months, the crab grass surroundings of CRCMC have been transformed into rolling mounds of drought resistant, California natives and meandering pathways lined with river rock. Landscaper Greg Krouse's (of Earth Dance Landscaping) design was set into motion with the assistance of the Boy Scouts and Potter Valley 4-H, who moved dirt, cleared the grounds and planted the starts that now thrive in the garden. Shortly thereafter, boxes of stained glass for the creation of mosaic stepping stones were delivered to CRCMC compliments of Shirley Charpentier and Jeanette Carson. Mosaic-making workshops were then led by Marian Scalmanini, of By Design Interior Decorating, as participants in our community - all individuals touched by cancer in some way - created the stepping stones for the garden. The work continued as men and women alike poured and grouted the cement that solidified the mosaic stones for the garden.

The staff at CRCMC all agreed that One Step at a Time seems an apt analogy to the CRCMC garden project. Just as a diagnosis of cancer requires a person to slow down and take each day one step at a time, the CRCMC Memorial Garden was not created overnight: it too was approached one step at a time and in doing so it now has a community spirit that will be enjoyed by many a visitor in the years to come.

CRCMC invites the community to stop by 590 S. Dora St. for an opening ceremony to celebrate the healing garden, and those who have made mosaic steppingstones will have an opportunity to share the story behind their mosaic design. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 17.

CRCMC would also like to encourage people to participate in The Human Race, a community walk that takes place on Saturday, May 10. In keeping with the theme of One Step at a Time, CRCMC is looking for people to be a part of their "centipede" during the Human Race, where walkers will join to take "one step at a time" together. For more information about both events, please contact Leanna Sweet at 467-3828.

Reprinted from the Ukiah Daily Journal, May 2008)