A female client of The Caring Place passed by the facility’s newest feature, a meditation garden, and called out to the volunteers who were building it.
“So far so good,” she told them from the parking lot.
“We think you’re going to love it,” Shelter President and CEO Jessica Luce responded, “and it’s even better than we ever imagined.”
On Monday, July 8, volunteers from Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso created a meditation garden at The Caring Place shelter in Valparaiso.
Jerry David, The Times
Located on a spacious plot in a residential area of Valparaíso, this once empty plaza is now a quiet respite from the storm of psychological trauma for clients and their children.
Caring Place provides support to people and their dependents who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault, and also operates Porter County’s only 24-hour crisis line and emergency shelter.
“Caring Place is a beautiful shelter with great resources for its clients, but it’s a communal living space,” Ruth says. “This Zen garden will be therapeutic for the clients and their children.”
Anyone else reading this…
Don Spears, a professor at Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso, helped create a meditation garden on Monday, July 8, at The Caring Place shelter in Valparaiso.
Jerry David, The Times
The garden was conceived weeks ago but was broken into Monday by students and staff from Ivy Tech Community College’s Valparaiso campus, who arrived at 8 a.m. and stayed there all day, digging and planting, assembling chairs, building fire pits and transforming something that was nothing special into something beautiful.
Last semester, students in the school’s Human Development and Ecosystems class conducted a literature review showing that exposure to nature has been shown to produce positive psychological outcomes for people who have experienced trauma.
“There have been two studies done with residents of domestic violence shelters,” says Donald Spears, professor in the School of Human Services and director of the program, “and with that information, we reached out to The Caring Place to offer a meditation garden where parents could have fun and feel rejuvenated.”
Volunteers from Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso take a much-needed break while creating a meditation garden at The Caring Place shelter in Valparaiso on Monday, July 8.
Jerry David, The Times
Spears and other volunteers continued to till and do hard labor on a hot, muggy day as recipients continued to rebuild their lives inside the shelter, which has 12 rooms, 45 beds and countless other amenities.
“It’s a collaboration between several different groups and departments,” said Dan Mohammed, a professor in the School of Design and Technology at Ivy Tech in Valparaiso.
He created and revised the garden layout using AutoCAD, a computer-aided design software, and even showed up on-site Monday morning to help guide the logistics of the project. (Watch the video and see more photos on NWI.com.)
Rachel Bennett, a life coach at Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso, planted seeds of hope on Monday, July 8, in the new meditation garden at The Caring Place shelter in Valparaiso.
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“We know our clients use the garden,” Ruth told Spears and Mohammed, “and sometimes there are more kids than adults, so it can get quite noisy.”
“They envision this garden as a place of escape, and that’s what we’ve created here,” Spears explained, as sweat dripped onto his green tie-dye Ivy Life shirt.
Many clients arrive with only the bare necessities after fleeing their homes – some are referred to Caring Place by social service agencies, while others find the shelter online by clandestinely accessing a website.
A tab at the bottom of the website reads, “Click here to exit now,” in case visitors feel unsafe from their abuser while researching their next steps in life.
On Monday, July 8, volunteers from Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso set up tables while creating a meditation garden at The Caring Place shelter in Valparaiso.
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“Many of our clients need to be here for more than 30 or 45 days to get back on their feet,” Ruth says. “Most of them just need a safe place to breathe. And once they can breathe a little easier, it’s easier to plan for the future.”
Ruth noted there are only three other similar shelters operating in Northwest Indiana.
“We’re working with all the institutions, but we still don’t have enough beds for our clients,” she said. “The garden allows them to be part of nature without being confined to their rooms, or they can come here to spend some alone time with their children.”
Funding for the project was donated by James Harper, son-in-law of former Porter County Superior Court Judge David Chidester, who died in March.
“Judge Chidester was on our board of directors and loved this place,” Ruth said.
A special plaque of appreciation will be placed in his honor on a park bench in the Meditation Garden later this month.
“He definitely left his mark here,” Ruth said, as volunteers worked near the bench.
Clients can use the tranquil garden to quickly begin to release emotional distress. Jessica Bates, an intern and volunteer at the shelter, summed it up aptly during a break from the project:
“They can let go of old feelings of pain and begin to develop new feelings of hope,” she said.
Jerry David, The Times
Chidester, someone I respect greatly, quietly donated items to the shelter so that residents didn’t have to carry their meager possessions around in garbage bags.
“Dignity was important to the judge, and he did everything he could to give his clients dignity,” Ruth said.
Clients can use the tranquil garden to quickly begin to release emotional distress. Jessica Bates, an intern and volunteer at the shelter, summed it up aptly during a break from the project:
“They can let go of old feelings of pain and begin to develop new feelings of hope,” she said.
Jerry can be reached at Jerry.Davich@nwi.com Find him on Facebook and other social media Opinions expressed are those of the author.
