Fundraisers for Georgia Street Community Collective turn up the heat for new furnace

In the neighborhood that surrounds Georgia Street, on the East Side near
Harper and Gratiot, Mark Covington successfully transformed what is now
five empty lots near his grandmother’s house into a community garden
and meeting space, a place where neighborhood kids come after
school to hang out.

“The garden was needed. People were choosing to buy food, or not to buy food, because they had to pay for prescription drugs or utilities,” he says.

The garden features 37 different varieties of fruits and vegetables, and even a goat and chickens. It’s also become a way for Covington to mentor as many as a dozen kids who live around Georgia Street.

“Hearing their stories, the stuff that they were going through at home
and at school, I just wanted to be a mentor and to help any way I could.
We started doing movie nights in the garden, backpack giveaways, and
other activities. It was just a way to show them that we cared about
them,” he says.

His next idea? Rehabbing a building purchased through probate into a community center and offices
for the Georgia Street Community Collective, which will also house a
multi-purpose room, library and computer lab for residents. They’re
currently raising $4,000 online to buy a new furnace and fix ductwork in
the building (click here to donate).

“It went from wanting to do stuff in the garden, to wanting to do it all year round, and getting the building rehabbed, so we can do it year round,” Covington says.

Mark’s been named a semi-finalist in the national Energizer Keep Going Hall of Fame contest. Click here to vote him in.

Source: Mark Covington, founder and president, Georgia Street Community Collective
Writer: Ashley C. Woods