I run a nonprofit that is local to our area called Grit Plus Gumption Farmstead. We serve women survivors of exploitation and domestic violence. We exist to empower these women to continually pursue holistic healing among safe community. And we aim to provide that safe community.
A word about safe community: Just because you have a great group of friends, just because you have a tribe, doesn’t mean you necessarily have safe community.
A safe community is a small group of people who listen without judgment, encourage with kindness, and keep niceness to themselves. Kindness requires honesty AND love. And sometimes honesty is really hard. Saying the hard thing is crucial for someone’s healing. And not everyone can do that.
I started this nonprofit in late Fall of 2020. I had this urge all year long to create something. Then, my grandmother passed away. My grandmother was so much my mother. She was an amazing force to be reckoned with. That is until dementia stole her from us seven years prior. I knew my life’s trajectory needed to change.
Oddly enough, it didn’t. It just enhanced. Leveled up, as the kids say.
I started a garden as a grief project. My grandmother was a great gardener. Me? Not so much. I even killed succulents. People and pets were all I’d kept alive thus far. But I took to Pinterest and taught myself to garden. Why? Because Nan loved to garden, and I wanted her spirit of gardening to be passed down to me.
Low and behold, stuff actually grew. And we ate it. It was delicious.
I went full on farm crazy after that. I bought egg layers to go with our meat chickens. I bought everything. I wanted the whole property to be edible. I hand watered. I caught rain water to reuse in the garden. Every morning was farm chores.
As I was growing food in my garden, I was also pursing my certificate in Allender Center Narrative Focused Trauma Care. By Fall, I knew I wanted to do both. But how? I had this crazy idea of marrying the two but wasn’t quite sure how it would be received. So I did the only thing I knew to do…I called a friend of mine who is a survivor and runs her own nonprofit.
Phone a friend!
‘I want to take the idea of gardening and story work and apply it to working with survivors. Because I believe that healing is like digging up old roots systems that no longer serve us. And what better way to prove that metaphor than to actually do it ourselves.’
She told me immediately I needed to do that because we, as survivors needed it.
A year and a half later and we’ve served three clients, hosted two retreats, countless day events, and community-building events, and we’re not stopping.
But there were roadblocks along the way. I don’t ever want people to see this work as something it's not. Hear this part if nothing else: In order to do really hard work with people who come from a background of complex trauma, you have to be willing to walk the road yourself and deal with the person in the mirror before you can ever think about helping someone else do the same.
This summer we plan on opening a clothing closet for survivors to shop at for free, as well as host our third retreat in July. It’s our goal to cultivate community and connection everywhere we go, to encourage survivors to heal holistically, and always approach everything we do with bold kindness and fearless authenticity. It’s the core of everything we do.
Want to know more? You can visit our website and follow us on social media if you’re interested in partnering with us as a donor or volunteer! We'd love to connect and make this community even greater.
Are you in?
