The leader of the running club invited me to join and said, “Just walk with us.” I went from walking to running and now I’m doing marathons. Our group started by running around the neighborhood, then we branched out to parks. It was a breath of fresh air.

There’s this one place over at White Oak Bayou on the top of the bridge, where downtown is behind you. When we go out there early in the morning, with the color of the sky and the way the buildings look, it’s really beautiful. When I run on Sundays, my 13-year-old son follows us on his bike. Running isn’t cool to him because mom does it, you know? But he loves his bike and the trails. He was having challenges with his weight and now he’s healthier and happier. We have a great time out there. We train all over—White Oak Bayou, Memorial Park, Buffalo Bayou, and others. Terry Hershey. That one is home to me. 

If you want to run, you can run. If you want to walk, you can walk. It’s not like any other running club. It’s really like a family. We get together all the time.

We have a GroupMe and someone will mention they’re going out and someone else will respond. We’re never alone. I don’t know if it’s because we’re all different ages and from different parts of the world, but we encourage each other and that’s something you don’t often find these days. After Chevron, our running leader came up with our current challenge: to partner up with someone and hit 2019 miles collectively. And we’re doing that. We’re showing up for each other.

Thank you to Aisha M. for sharing her story!

We started this program because we had been hearing stories from families about how our largest park in Gulfton, Burnett Bayland Park, wasn’t clean or safe. We knew we had to do something. This is our home. We can take ownership of it. So we went through a leadership training with the BakerRipley Community Engineers program, gathered volunteers, and started cleaning up the park. We contacted Keep Houston Beautiful and they helped us with materials. Our work caught the attention of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department and they added some lights to make the park safer and more visible. 

As we were working, we noticed an unused community garden right at the entrance to the park. We had a vision of turning it into a butterfly garden, but we didn’t know exactly how to make it happen. I had been involved in Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Complete Communities meetings, and that’s where I met Lisa from Houston Parks Board. I told her about our idea, and she helped us make it happen by connecting us with the staff at Houston Parks Board, and through them, a garden designer.  

Now, whenever we go out and tend the garden, we ask people what they think of the changes. They say, “It’s looking cleaner and beautiful. We feel safer now.” And that’s really what we wanted. Kids will come up to us with their parents and ask what we’re doing. They’ll say, “I want to pick up trash, too. I want to water the plants.” And for the last 3 months, we’ve noticed our recycling cans are being used. It wasn’t easy at first. Gulfton is a diverse community with different cultures from all over. When you’re not from here, it’s hard to understand why recycling is important. I learned about it when I came here. 

Thank you to Maria H. for sharing her story!

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Showing Up

The EarthIs for all of us