United Way Honoring Local Historian with David L. Weber Memorial Community Garden
Terri Ann Wig, Chief Professional Officer of the United Way of the Titusville Region announces the development of the David L. Weber Memorial Community Garden. “David was a beloved member of our community and local historian. During times of national crisis, disaster and trauma, David would come into the United Way office and ask us to create a community garden. He would explain the history of the “Victory Garden” during WWII and how it could be used to bring the community together and to help those in need during difficult times” stated Wig.
With the passing of David, Wig decided to make his dream a reality. With this in mind, the United Way is taking the lead in a collaborative effort to establish the David L. Weber Memorial Community Garden.
With the help from the City of Titusville, the garden will be located on Central Avenue in the vacant lot beside Middleton Chiropractic. The city will provide the lot, ready the space and provide water for use of the garden. Middleton Chiropractic has agreed to allow a mural to be placed on the outside wall of their building. The mural will be approximately 400 square feet and will be a focal point of the David L. Weber Memorial Community Garden. The Titusville Council on the Arts is coordinating the mural project.
To honor David’s love of history, the mural will be in the WWII style art used in posters to promote victory gardens. Local WWII history will be included in the mural with items like the Titusville Iron Work and Cyclops. These factories made various parts for military machinery and were manufactured right here in Titusville. “We will continue the WWII era feel with 6 to 8 galvanized steel and lumber garden beds; period correct fencing, and benches along with decorative shrubbery as funding permits.
We will be involving numerous community partners and organizations to make David’s garden possible. We plan on reaching out to the Titusville Area School District to provide opportunities for students to participate in several aspects of the garden project. We hope that students in wood and metal tech classes would help with building the beds, art students could work with the professional muralist to create the mural and middle and high school students help with plantings.”, according to Wig. “While plans are in the earliest stages, we will be forming a work group in the near future to move David’s Garden forward from dream to reality.”
For the initial year of operation, the hope is that local groups and civic organizations would be willing to adopt a bed. They will plant and care for the beds following pre-established guidelines of operation of the garden. The vision is that the harvest will either be sold at the farmer’s market with funds being re-invested into the garden and/or donating produce to local agencies that provide food security programs. As David’s garden matures, the goal is to have families have their own plot for a nominal fee that will help maintain the garden.
If funding is available, it is hoped that work on the mural will begin in the fall of 2021 and to place the beds and fencing early spring of 2022. The goal is to have the mural completed before planting season to allow the muralist and students to have free reign of the space to do their work.
To support this community effort, donors can mail contributions to UWTR, PO Box 401, Titusville, PA 16354, being sure to include David’s Garden in the memo or use one of the digital options including the text-to-give option by Texting davidgarden to 41444. Contributors may also visit us online at www.titusvilleunitedway.com , select the Give icon and choose David’s Garden in the designation section.
For questions or more information on the David L. Weber Memorial Community Garden, please contact the United Way of the Titusville Region at 814-827-1322