Why N.I.M.B.Y. (Not In My Back Yard)?

Seventeen of us showed up for work at a 2.5 acre "garden" this morning at 9:00 a.m. Last year, this little garden produced 65,000 pounds of food. The bulk of which went to Food for Lane County, which is where half of our group worked on Monday packing 2000 lunches to be distributed to children and youth in parks around the county. 

Given the fertile farmland of the Willamette Valley, I guessed that we'd be driving out of town for our work. I guessed incorrectly. As I headed up Coburg Road, I was certain that I'd been given the wrong address that I was quickly approaching. A large Safeway Grocery store sat on the left and to my right was St. Thomas Episcopal Church. A small sign on the edge of the church parking lot read, GrassRoots Garden. I pulled in and there it was tucked in behind the church, behind the church preschool playground. Houses border the garden on three sides with the exception of the Southeast corner where sits Monroe Junior High School. 
The weather forecast predicted 70% chance of rain, but we are Northwesterners. So, the majority of our group just planned to have soaking wet sneakers and five pounds of wet sweatshirt by the end of the day. However, our job site host for the day, Kendra Howard, wouldn't let us start work without proper coats and boots. We were grateful for her wisdom, since we ended up dodging two torrential downpours, one of which was during lunch. 

As we huddled around the wooden picnic benches that we'd hauled in under the corrugated roof of the outdoor kitchen, we had more time to talk with some of the local volunteers, but it wasn't until we were stacking our dirty dishes that I overheard a quiet kid in University of Oregon sweatshirt ask someone, "So, why do you guys come from so far away to just do this?" I wasn't entirely sure if he was asking, "why in the world would you drive five hours to spend the day farming in the rain?" or if he was asking the question that others often ask when groups spend money to travel to remote destinations: "don't you have needs in your own community." 

I didn't get to hear the answer, but I've been asked the second question enough times to know how I'd answer. Yes, almost every church youth mission trip could find a summer's worth of work to do in their own back yard, but traveling is part of the summer mission trip rite of passage. Long drives in smelly buses and vans, lost luggage, flight delays, surly customs agents help create the lasting memories that youth will enjoy complaining about for months if not years to come: "remember when Robert threw up on the bus..." However, even more important than creating memories is the value of dislocation. 

Whether the group drives two and half hours to work on the Yakima Nation or five hours to work in Lane County, Oregon, or flies to Costa Rica or San Francisco, the loss of the familiar is sufficiently disorienting to create space for most of youth (and adults) to see the world with new eyes. There's a good chance that if the same people we meet and serve when we go away on a mission trip lived in our neighborhood at home, we would never notice them. In fact, we might not even believe that within a mile or two from our house we have neighbors who struggle financially, lack basic health care and are unable to buy healthy food for their families. 

When youth return home from mission trips, they typically see their own community with new eyes. While some of their previous blindness often returns within a few weeks, some youth refuse to return to "life as normal." If encouraged and supported by the adult mission trip leader(s), they may come home with passion and energy to start something new in their church or community. It's hard to predict what will happen as a result of this trip. 
One youth quipped sarcastically at the end of our day at GrassRoots Garden, "We should do this at our church with our little garden boxes...," which prompted one of the leaders to respond, "you have to start somewhere." That was when our host, Kendra informed us that GrassRoots Garden started with just a few beds...almost 25 years ago! 

What I do know is that some seeds have been planted and some may already be germinating in the minds and hearts of these young people. 

Stay tuned...