PERRY TWP. − Not all healing requires medication. Sometimes, all you need is a quiet, beautiful place.
Hope & Healing, an outreach ministry of the faith-based Pregnancy and Parenting Center in Canton, opened a Gratitude Garden earlier this month to serve its clients and anyone in need of a respite.
The garden is behind Whipple Heights CMA Church at 4900 12th St. NW.
“The purpose of the garden is to honor the journey from grief and loss to restoration,” said Stefanie Libertore, Hope & Healing’s director of recovery services.
“It was probably two or three years ago, I was speaking with a client who had lost her baby a few days after birth,” Libertore said. “We did a memorial service for her and for the baby, and I just thought it would be nice for her to have a beautiful space to sit in.
“It was a seed that was planted in my heart.”
Hope & Healing serves and counsels women who have experienced personal loss through counseling and in-person and online support groups.
“It could be the loss of a child, or an abortion, or sexual assault,” Libertore said. “There are a lot of different kinds of losses.”
‘A gift to the community’
Libertore designed the garden, which features self-guided prompts, sculptures, markers bearing Scripture and inspirational quotes, deer-resistant plants, wind chimes and roses.
“Roses are beautiful and fragrant, but they also have thorns − just like life,” Libertore said.
The space also is considered a place for faithful people to feel closer to their beliefs.
“This sacred space is a gift to our community,” said Paula Mastroianni, executive director of the Pregnancy & Parenting Center. “While the primary reason it came to be was as a place of restoration for those with an abortion experience in the past, it’s also a place to heal from grief in general. It’s where anyone, women and men, can come to reflect, pray, think and become whole again through the quiet and beauty of this garden. You can feel the Holy Spirit here.”
The centerpiece of the garden is a sculpture titled “Gratitude” by Houston-based artist Lori Betz.
Downloaded by God
Libertore said she had no prior experience in garden design but forged ahead when she couldn’t find a professional willing to do it.
Libertore said her committee used the social media app Pinterest to create a board with ideas.
“I feel like it was downloaded by God,” she said with smile. “I have no background in this. The more I prayed, the clearer it became.”
Libertore noted that the garden was funded through a grant from the Sacred Heart Trust Foundation of Waverly, Pennsylvania.
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP.
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