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In downtown Berkeley, in the midst of heavy traffic, loud road construction and pedestrians rushing to and from places, there is a narrow walkway that leads you between two buildings. At the end of the walkway, there is a calm, quiet place to take a break. 

What was once an empty asphalt lot behind the Multi-Agency Service Center (MASC), a homeless agency, at 1931 Center St. has slowly been converted into a rich garden filled with fruit trees, medicinal herbs and perennials for Berkeley’s homeless population to enjoy. 

“It’s this beautiful little spot in downtown Berkeley that not many people know about,” said Tom Wegner, a social worker for the Men’s Homeless Drop-In Shelter who has been in charge of the garden for over a year. “It’s kind of hidden, you have to know how to get into it.” 

Surrounded on all four sides by buildings, the Solid Ground Garden has a circular walkway and benches for people to sit on and socialize. During the morning, the place is hopping with people getting away from the city surrounding them. One-third of the garden consists of medicinal herbs, which makes it a healing center of sorts. 

“We are bringing that vitality back to an urban center,” Wegner said. 

The Men’s Homeless Drop-In Center is located in the basement of the Veterans Building on Center Street between Milvia Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Several agencies share the space, which is managed by the Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Project. 

During the day, MASC operates the drop-in center. It allows homeless people to take showers, cook food and use the telephone to look for jobs and housing. An average of 160 people visit the shelter every day. 

Five days a week Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous hold meetings in the basement. At night a different agency comes in and operates a 50-bed men’s homeless shelter. 

“The garden acts as a gateway into this place,” Wegner said. 

Four years ago, the lot was nothing but concrete. In 1996, AmeriCorps volunteers tore up the asphalt and created small garden with seeds they purchased at a Longs Drug store. 

“We had a crew of 25 people from AmeriCorps pick and ax the cement,” said Judy Radke, a case manager at the drop-in center who was a member of the Americorps group. “The first garden we ever had out there were sunflower seeds. We threw the seeds into the ground and we had beautiful sunflowers out there. Thousands of them.” 

However, after the volunteers left there were no expansions to the garden for several years. 

“It was still a big vacant lot, with a little strip of color on one side,” Wegner said. 

Then students from UC Berkeley began coming in to work on the garden, a semester at a time. Over two years, the students slowly turned more of the cement ground into restored earth with plants and trees. But the students only worked for a few months at a time and their projects rarely overlapped. 

“What was happening from semester to semester was when one person was done with theirs and then the next person started, those two projects didn’t really overlap very well,” Wegner said. “There was a lot of hit and miss and there wasn’t a lot of coordination between the projects. We were getting a lot of things here and there but no real cohesion.” 

Then Wegner, who had been working for the agency for just over one year at the time, became involved in the garden. Since he had very little experience in gardening beforehand, the whole process has been a learning experience. 

“I’ve definitely got a whole workload down here and so that garden is just kind of a side project,” he said. “It’s just something that when I started here I just watched from afar. It was just happening and I was seeing where change could be made. I just stepped forward and started running with it.” 

Wegner works on the garden during his lunch break, after his work hours and on weekends. He has been helped by volunteers and clients of the drop-in center. 

“Three years ago I came into the courtyard and I saw some people doing the gardening,” said Yukon Hannibal, a client of the homeless agency. “I’ve always been interested in gardening, but I never had a shovel in my hand long enough to do really substantial work until I came here. I just got intrigued by it.” 

In the last three years, Hannibal has been one of the most involved gardeners. 

Boy Scouts of America installed two tables with checkerboards on them. UC Berkeley students from the Architecture Department built benches to go along with the tables. The City of Berkeley has also helped. 

What is impressive about the Solid Ground Garden is that is has been built with no funding. Supplies and plants have been donated and workers have budgeted their own time. 

There is still a large amount of work that can be done on the garden. Future plans could include a mural to be painted onto one of the four walls that surrounds the garden to add more color. Wegner said he hopes to build a perennial garden that is easy to maintain and that clients of the drop-in center can enjoy year-round. 

“Somehow something starts blooming where I didn’t even know things were planted, and that’s exciting,” Wegner said. “And every season it becomes thicker and more lush.” 

Organizers are looking for people with gardening experience or resources to help. To get involved in the garden project, contact Tom Wegner at 510-843-6800 extension 116 or 510-704-0729.