Alle-Kiski Valley senior citizens reap benefits of Sunny's Community Garden in Indiana Township

Sandi Lando Welch has spent her career nourishing people’s souls.

Now, the retired nonprofit leader is feeding people’s bellies, too.

Welch launched Sunny’s Community Garden this spring in Indiana Township. It’s her third such initiative, following parcels in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Manchester neighborhoods, with the goal of growing and giving produce to those in need.

“It all started one day when I was in a garden with a bunch of children, and I asked them where carrots came from,” said Welch of Lawrenceville. “Their answer — plastic bags from the grocery store — was not what I was looking for.”

Sunny’s Community Garden at 368 Guys Run Road opened in April with three goals: repurpose unused property, teach people that eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive and create community through growing.

“There’s something about being in a garden that makes people feel peaceful and happy,” Welch said. “That’s what this is about, helping the community.”

The response has been phenomenal, according to volunteer Susan Steiner of O’Hara.

“We give away everything we grow,” she said. “Further, we build the gardens and then give them back.”

In the Hill District, volunteers built a deck overlooking the land where weddings and poetry readings have been hosted. It is pruned and preserved by garden enthusiasts of all ages from that community.

A family from the Fox Chapel area has pledged to maintain the Guys Run Road property in the coming years.

“It is all about community,” Steiner said.

She cited a hearty group of volunteers who carried 20 raised cedar beds and hauled logs, soil and wood chips to start the garden. Included were many students from Fox Chapel Area School District who earned volunteer hours for their labor.

“We left tired, sore and dirty,” Welch said. “But delivering the first harvest was the ultimate reward.”

Steiner and Welch, both Master Gardeners, hope to educate others on the rewards of growing and sharing healthy food.

An initial harvest of lettuce, beets and potatoes was donated to the Northern Area Multi-Service Center in Sharpsburg for senior citizens to take home.

NAMS is run through the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging and provides free fitness, hot meals and activities on weekdays.

Director Brian Metzer said recipients were thrilled with the farm-to-table service.

“They ate it up,” he said. “They go nuts for fresh produce — and the fact that it just came out of the ground that morning, they were really excited about it.

“One woman came in the next day and told us how she pickled the beets that she got.”

Steiner said a second planting at the garden, including eggplant, spinach, tomatoes and peppers, could benefit residents of the Blawnox high-rise or others throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Welch, who spent her career with the nonprofit Circle Camps for Grieving Children, retired on Dec. 31 and started Sunny’s the next day.

Her goal is to open a garden in a different community every year and gift it to volunteers.

“We are always on the hunt for a good soul who will give us use of a flat piece of property and who will pay for the water,” she said. “And we are always looking for volunteers. There’s no such thing as too many wheelbarrows.”