Flood Relief for FFG at Fox Creek
Feedom Freedom Growers is a devoted, community-based non-profit 501c3 organization, situated in the indigenously known Fox Creek Community (Jefferson/Chalmers) of Detroit. Flooding is increasingly impacting our lives. We could easily recall the damage from the floods of 2014 that were federally declared an emergency and are still actively recovering from and managing the 2019 Fox Creek Canal overflow. The rising water conditions caused the canal to continuously flow for months along the neighboring lot of our small farm and onto the sidewalk and street. The city’s solutions were unsightly, water-filled Tiger Dams and sandbags that did not hold up to this recent downpour.
On June 25/26 2021 a devastating rainstorm, in combination with an aging infrastructure, resulted in damaging floods that severely overwhelmed our area, nearly decimating crops in our thriving community garden and ruined many of our much needed tools, material, and supplies.
The water rose over 3-4 feet in our basements, taking out hot water heaters and furnaces and knocking over shelves and tables, attributing to the loss. We lost art supplies crucial to our Art in the Garden and Emory Douglas Youth and Family Art programs. We lost the tools and equipment necessary that helped create the Green Chairs, Not Green Lights safety campaign.
Here is a partial list of tools that were destroyed in the flood: Saws, sanders, drills, circular saw, air compressor, nail gun, miter saw, etc. too many to name here. Washing machine, dryer, and hot water tank are damaged and we don’t know if the furnace is working and it's still wet to check.
Since this devastating event, we have been asked how you can help...A few folks have shown up to help us with the clearing of the basement at 866 and at The FFG 291 Kulture Hub. You can help us to replace and secure items and through this fundraiser and once we are at our full capacity we will extend the help to others in this area who were also hit hard.
We will post here to keep you all updated on all the organizational efforts as well as the outreach to the community through pics and posts.
