“Everyone is very welcoming,” Zambito said. “Which I think in left-leaning political circles, especially in New York, isn’t always the case. There is a lot of focus on how to create an actual sense of community.”
Rapp said she “had walked past Maryhouse a thousand times and never registered what happens behind the doors” until she attended a Friday night meeting in January.
IEC member Dominick Mastrodonato, whose parents met at Maryhouse in 1986 and who said he practically grew up in the house, returned independently after seeing an Instagram post about the garden project.
“I think it (the IEC) was an incentive to still be regularly involved in activities at the Worker,” Mastrodonato said. “A garden represents sustainability to me. It makes environmentalism more feasible in New York City.”
The next phase of the garden project will be to move the germinating seeds to the roof of Maryhouse, where IEC members aim to tend their growth patiently.
This article originally appeared here.
