Save Chuck's Garden

My name is Coach Chuck Apap, and I recently retired from a career of over four decades teaching high school algebra and mentoring young athletes in sports like football, track and field, and baseball. My GoFundMe will allow me to purchase the lot next door, which I have worked to beautify for my neighborhood over the past decade.

Five years ago, my neighbor generously offered to allow me to extend the garden from my backyard into the empty lot; he explained that since it could not be built on, any work I did would make our community more lovely. In that time, I have installed over 350 flowers and ten thousand feet driplines to sustain them at over $15,000 out of pocket. The result has been breathtaking-the Alta Vista Garden Club of Prescott even named the garden one of the top five gardens of 2022, and hundreds of individuals view the garden on local tours. For me, it is enough to share my work and vision with my community. My wife has always called it "The Park" since I installed chairs and a table so that any visitor may relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. The garden has been more than a hobby for me- it has been a labor of love, both for the space itself and for all the incredible people we have met who have stopped by out of curiosity or admiration.

I have since discovered that $15,000 in back taxes were owed on the property and that the city of Prescott recently placed the property, Lot 107, up for auction. I was hopeful that it would go unpurchased since it cannot be built on. But I just discovered that someone in Phoenix put in the minimum bid of $15,000, and if I cannot raise a matching bid in the next week, I will lose a space that my community has grown to know and love. I cannot make that kind of purchase on a teacher's pension, so I turn to you for help on the advice of friends. I hope that we can raise enough money to place a competing bid for the property so that I may work it and maintain it for years to come.

Your gift will guarantee that the garden will not become overgrown, fall into disrepair, or be razed. It is an investment in a Prescott Community space that attracts visitors (over seven hundred will visit on June 4 alone) and provides outdoor beauty and serenity during busy and uncertain times. Anyone who knows me knows that I am continually improving the space-always using my labor and my money-and; thus, should know that I plan to keep making this space available to the community as long as I live here. Please help me raise this money, and provide a gorgeous outdoor garden to share with our neighbors, friends, and family.