Every summer Sunday, the altar of St. Michael the Archangel Episcopal Church displays flowers grown by survivors on our farm.

Reverend Laurie Brock, Rector, is also an attorney who helped write domestic violence laws in her home state of Alabama. When she came to St. Michael’s in 2010, supporting local survivors was a priority.

“If you have a Sunday morning attendance of 100, 25 of those people are experiencing some kind of intimate partner violence,” explains Laurie.

“Domestic violence is in many ways the silent pandemic because there’s so much shame wrapped up in it.”

Laurie, on behalf of the church, has been a member of our Summer Flower CSA for many years, and she is proud to spread the word to her parishioners and the community.

“I would rather get flowers locally, and we know it’s more than just flowers,” she shares. “They represent people finding out that they are worth living a life of safety.”

“It is an investment in people’s dignity. I think that as faith communities we are called to prioritize our funds for that. I would love to see more churches and community organizations participate.”

Faith-based partnerships recently have helped us to expand programming, provide holiday food to survivors living in transitional housing, and maintain the emergency shelter property.