Mother Nature's message from Mesa Urban Farm

Creeping over the brick wall that surrounds St. Vincent de Paul's Mesa Urban Farm on Broadway Road, a banana bunch has overcome the odds and managed to thrive in Arizona's brutal summer heat. On top of that, the bananas have grown through the fencing almost as if to emphasize a message on the mural painted on the wall below. The message reads...

"We don't know each other, but we need each other." 

It's a message for the times—one that nature itself points SVdP staff and volunteers to as they arrive for their daily work and service at the Mesa Dining Room and its adjoining farm. 

This isn't a coincidence to the Mesa Urban Farm's program coordinator, Ka-Linda Blackner, who feels the farm is a spiritual place. 

"There is a lot of healing going on in the farm," she said. As well as the spiritual healing the farm brings to its volunteers, the staff at the Mesa Urban Farm is able to take the harvested produce and serve it to the guests who come for food, or give it in bags to be eaten later. It shows how SVdP's services don't focus on just one area of life, and tend to be holistic.

The banana plant's feat is extra impressive when considering that it's a tropical plant growing in one of the hottest, driest places in the world. In fact, Ka-Linda had never grown bananas before. 

"I didn't think they would survive, but I was up for the challenge," Ka-Linda said. "And six months later, the bananas were ready to eat." 

The dining room guests have enjoyed the fresh fruit. But as much as they need Ka-Linda to help grow nutritious produce, Ka-Linda also needs the dining room guests, who give the farm and her work a higher purpose and joy in serving others. They may not always know each other, but they certainly need each other.