Orchard Steward Spotlight: World Relief Western Washington

Orchard Steward: Lucas McClish

Stewards are volunteers who take the lead on caring for their local orchards. They are the backbone of The Giving Grove program. Thanks to their dedication, Giving Grove little orchards continue to create food equity, improve the environment, and foster friendship and community. As a thank you, we like to spotlight stewards who are doing some extraordinary things in their communities.

World Relief Western Washington Giving Grove Orchard

Today, we are honored to share the story of the World Relief Western Washington (WR-WW) Giving Grove orchard in Seattle, stewarded by Lucas McClish and supported by Tilth Alliance, a member of the Giving Grove affiliate network.

World Relief Western Washington envisions every refugee and immigrant welcomed by community, rooted in community, and empowered for community. They are welcomed through direct resettlement services, including housing, English language learning classes, and employment connections. People are rooted as they receive support from an Immigration and Legal Services team, Youth and Family Services programs, and a Health and Wellness team addressing long-term mental health goals. Lastly, refugees and immigrants become a resource for their community by sharing fresh food, creating desirable products through a sewing program, and cooking up coveted cultural dishes in WR-WW’s commercial teaching kitchen.

The refugee and immigrant communities that WR-WW serves requested a space to grow culturally-relevant foods from their home countries. They wanted to connect with their agricultural roots and have a safe place for their children to experience the outdoors. WW-WR embraced this vision.

The garden began to take root in the former parking lot of a local church, but the site was prone to flooding and lacked space for perennials. “Together, we envisioned a solution to both of these challenges through creating a flood-mitigating bioswale integrated with a community food forest,” says McClish.

Funding from the King County Flood Control District allowed WR-WW to address infrastructure needs at the site. Community members convened three times to design the site layout and select varietals for planting. With support from the local Giving Grove orchard program at Tilth Alliance, WW-WR planted the food forest in March of 2022. The orchard will serve current and past gardeners, neighbors, congregants of the local church, and any community members who venture through the garden space.

Even in the early stages of the food forest, WW-WR is seeing people harvesting grape leave for dolmas, oregano for za’atar, and tomatoes for curries.

“I am inspired by the diversity of our orchard… This truly is designed by community and for community, incorporating the diversity of voices our people represent into the design of our food forest. In this place, you actually won’t find any apples, but you will find Asian persimmons, Pakistani mulberries and even a pomegranate tree. We are excited and hopeful that this will continue to be a place that people can take ownership of and reclaim as a small piece of home.”

— Lucas McClish, Orchard Steward

Planting Day at World Relief Western Washington

Their hope for the new orchard is that:

It provides a new source of healthy, culturally-relevant food for decades to come.
The community takes ownership of the space, feeling a personal responsibility for its upkeep.
It serves as a space where children can organically interact with fresh food sources to learn about nutrition and their own agricultural heritage.

As the trees grow and become more productive, McClish is confident that the impact of the site will grow as well.