On Nov. 6th a strong and mighty group of 8 from St. Martin’s traveled to Sacramento to work on the Safe Harbor Gathering Garden.  The event was organized by St. Martin’s Social Justice & Outreach and TYGMOS groups. 

Safe Harbor is the first non-profit mini-housing project approved by the City of Sacramento.  It consists of 3 mini-houses and one community kitchen, laundry, and bathroom with shower.  Safe Harbor has been in operation since Dec. 2021. They have provided transitional housing and helped find employment for over 15 people so they could move from fluid housing to permanent housing and employment. 

Safe Harbor is the passion and vision of Robin and James Moore. They converted half of their backyard into the Safe Harbor mini-housing.  Now Robin and James have a vision to build a community Gathering Garden open to all and a place that those staying at Safe Harbor can give back to the community. 

The 8 from St. Martin consisted of Maryrose Chan, Raena Naophiankham, Anna Steel, Kaia Steel, Jim Schaal, Barton Bruce, Joe Baugh, and Tim Williams.  Our group worked half a day to help bring Robin and James Moore’s vision a little closer to reality.  We moved over 10 cu yards of bark and helped build border boards with the help of two skilled staff from Sierra Service Project (SSP).  It was amazing to see the daunting pile of mulch move from the street to the garden by our group’s will power and labor of love.  In addition,  Max Rose and Bob Elam from SSP were amazing as they patiently taught our youth, Joe and Raena how to use hammers, drill guns and sawzall to construct the border boards along a walkway.

Through God’s love and caring, it was very rewarding to be able to work together to accomplish our task, build community within St. Martin, and help provide a hand up to a community that is trying to better themselves.  Robin and James have hearts of gold and are an inspiration to us all on how with God’s will you can put your life in motion to help those less fortunate.