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© 2006 Linda Saxon Nix

 

The Vision

The Status

Accomplishments

 

The Vision

Martha Sanderson Boyce, founder and Executive Director of the Mississippi Renaissance Garden, had a vision. It started in 1998 when she went through a life changing trauma.

When an accident caused the loss of her right foot and ultimately her job as a teacher, it changed her life as she knew it. After spending a year in a wheelchair, she was able to walk and became the caregiver of her 92 year old mother. She and her husband built a house where she designed a garden for her mother. Together they enjoyed the garden for six months, and after Martha lost her mother, the garden became a memorial to her in 2003.

As Martha continued to plant and design the garden to accommodate her wheelchair, she found that her grief and pain begin to diminish. She became aware of its healing powers of her garden retreat.

Martha's pain gradually lessened as she worked in the garden, all the while creating a beautiful place she could go to meditate and become renewed.

One of her greatest pleasures became sharing her garden with others. She recognizes the benefits of the beauty of nature, and how beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers can uplift the heart and heal the soul.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, virtually everything was wiped out within a two-block radius of the coastline. Thousands of people were left with nothing but a slab. Later the slabs were broken up and hauled away, leaving nothing but bard ground. Houses and businesses were destroyed, lives were lost, vehicles were ruined, and everything that people owned was taken away. Along with these losses, the beauty of the area gone. Everything was brown and desolate. The once beautiful southern landscape and gardens that had provided beauty to so many residents and visitors were now dead, washed away or rendered brown and stripped of leaves and flowers. The Ancient oaks and other trees were uprooted or severely damaged, leaving miles of empty landscapes.

Martha's home and garden were spared by Katrina, but she felt the pain of others who were not so lucky. Knowing the comfort and renewal that she experienced in the mist of her own garden, she began to have a vision. In the fall of 2005, her vision began as a tiny seed that is now growing into a reality.
She visualized a garden that would give the people of Mississippi a place to go to be renewed and healed, much in the say way as her small backyard garden helped her to heal. This garden would be entirely free to the public and accessible to all.

In her vision, the garden will be a memorial to loved ones lost in the hurricane as well as a tribute to all the selfless angels who came to help plan and rebuild our coastal area and to all of the heroes who worked tirelessly to rescue survivors. This garden will be called The Mississippi Renaissance Garden.
Martha got busy spreading her idea and never took "No" for an answer. She contacted area media, attended recovery meetings, joined Renaissance Recovery committees, attended home and garden shows, made endless phone calls and wrote countless e-mails to make sure that her vision would become a reality. She never gave up on the dream that there would one day be a public garden for the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

As of this moment, Martha has a core of people who also believe in her vision who are working with her to make the garden a reality. Many others from all over the United States have pledged to help.

The vision is great, and so is the movement.

Martha believes that God has brought special people to this "Horticulture for Humanity"movement who have unknowing spent their lives preparing to work to make this humanitarian and environmental project a reality. Each one seems to have come with the necessary talents and all have captured her enthusiasm for making her dream a reality.

 

Status of the Garden:

  • The Mississippi Renaissance Garden Foundation, Inc. has been incorporated. A Board of Directors is in place, as well as an advisory board.
  • Nonprofit status has been applied for and while the status is pending, it is expected to be granted.
  • Land is being sought for the Mississippi Renaissance Garden as well as for future satellite gardens all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in interested cities.
  • Preliminary plans are being drawn up by a landscape architect for the layout of the main garden.
  • Fundraising plans are being planned to raise money to begin the garden once non-profit status is acquired.
  • Environmental Impact studies must be completed on the yet-to-be-acquired land before any actual construction may begin. Funds will be sought to pay for the studies.
  • The MRG Board has a wonderful site in mind if it can be approved by the principles who own the land. If this falls through, we will be in search of a land donor in earnest.
  • An official web site with a domain name and without popups is in the works to replace this temporary site.

Accomplishments

  • MRG Board Members have attended Lawn and Garden Shows to make people aware of the foundations goals and progress.
  • Seeds donated by national organizatons have been passed out on several occasions to offer hope of a greener environment.
  • A booth was set up at the Governor's Expo in August to pass out brochures and create an interest in the causes the MRG represents.
  • A Recovery Oak was planted by the Atlanta Tzu Chi Foundation at the new children's playground by Margaret Sherry Library in Biloxi.to put a 10-year-old Live oak in the soil
    • who drove from Atlanta to help replace lost Live oaks on the Coast.
  • Appreciation stickers where passed out to volunteer workers during Katrina Anniverary commemoration programs at the Biloxi Town Green and the Saenger Theater.
  • Information is being gathered from Katrina heroes and volunteers to be placed in a book the MRG is planning to write and publish entitled From the Hearts of Heroes.

 

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