Rain Gardens to the Rescue

Thanks to amazing donors like you, along with funding provided by GlobalGiving and The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, Friends of the Rouge was able to award nine (9) total rain gardens to participants in the Rain Gardens to the Rescue program in 2022. The rain gardens were installed in August and early September 2022 at the homes of Detroiters who completed a five-part training course, where they learned all about rain gardens, their installation and maintenance. 

Rain gardens installed last year were designed by participants during the training course with support from stormwater experts. The 2022 installations replaced a total of 1,787 square feet of lawn with beautiful gardens and native plantings. These rain gardens can now directly prevent 5,673 gallons of rainwater from flowing into the combined sewer system (that's about 150 bath tubs worth of water) every time it rains!  These gardens also help Friends of the Rouge (FOTR) move toward a goal of 5,000 rain gardens by 2035. Plus, these rain gardens benefit the community by providing community gathering spaces and green spaces to connect with nature.

Funds received through GlobalGiving allowed Friends of the Rouge to support an additional two (2) rain gardens in Detroit and Highland Park. These gardens wouldn't have been possible without your support through GlobalGiving! The Virginia Park garden serves as a demonstration of a rain garden, featuring beautiful native flowers. Graduate Venita, along with The Virginia Park Community group, plan to install additional gardens, transforming the lot into a neighborhood park, beautifying and adding green space for the community, while managing stormwater runoff and providing pollinator habitat.

In 2022, Betsy applied for a rain garden in her yard after large 2021 rain events caused water damage in her basement. Since homes are very close together in this community, the stormwater affecting Betsy’s home was actually coming from her neighbor’s downspout. While out at Betsy’s site visit, we met her neighbor Gloria, and talked with her about rain gardens and the program. Betsy talked with Gloria about putting in a garden herself to help manage the water between their homes. Betsy and Gloria were both able to get rain gardens, and haven’t experienced the seepage as before. Betsy’s garden is 216 square feet, plus she converted her full 600 square-foot front yard into native plants to support more wildlife. Gloria built a smaller, uniform 45 square-foot garden along her fence with a variety of purple flowers. The different-sized gardens are a great visual, showing passersby that a garden of any size can look beautiful and make a big difference!

This coming year, Friends of the Rouge will continue to focus on underrepresented communities of color and low-income households in Metro Detroit that are disproportionately harmed by increased flooding events and environmental pollution. FOTR and partners work to expand our audience by providing educational materials in Spanish and Arabic, in addition to English. The garden application will be available by mid-March. The free educational training course, held weekly in June, will be advertised to the public. New installations will include smaller-scale residential gardens, in addition to several large-scale gardens at local houses of worship. This effort aims to educate and engage the community with rain garden design and installations. Additionally, members of the congregations will be inspired to install rain gardens of their own. Thank you for your continued support of Rain Gardens to the Rescue!

Links:

• Rain Gardens to the Rescue homepage
• 2022 GSI Virtual Tour