City of Cambridge Participatory Budgeting

Committee: Environment, Health & Safety

Cost: $250,000

Location: Location to be determined through a community process

Short Description: Veterans of war often return home with severe but unseen injuries. 8,000 veterans, each year, take their own lives. A garden design to heal the wounds of war for vets and their families is the purpose of this project. Help make it possible.

Long Description: A veterans’ garden is intended to provide an opportunity for veterans and their families to strengthen social and family bonds after separation and the ravages of war. Census data show there are about 4,082 Cambridge veterans and family members who could benefit from this project with potential to access to horticultural therapy.

Gardening and the natural environment nurtures a healing process by providing opportunities to learn, socialize, or meditate. Walkways would be wheelchair accessible and raised beds would ensure that all visitors have access. Features could include varied sensory paths or walkways, raised beds, a greenhouse, a picnic table, outdoor chimes or bamboo instruments, a meditation area, outdoor recreation facility, a dog watering station, a bird bath, integrated landscaping, and water dispensing area.

The exact location of the veterans’ garden will be determined through a community process. One potential location is Rogers Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, Kendall Square.

Meditation hut suggestion: