FOR NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, PURPLE HEART COMMANDER JOINS BUILD A GARDEN BOX FOR THE BLOCK.
FOR NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, PURPLE HEART COMMANDER JOINS BUILD A GARDEN BOX FOR THE BLOCK.
Wounded Combat Veteran Brings Message of Hope, Healing, and Community Transformation to Fort Worth. Link: https://blacktexans.blogspot.com/2026/06/funkytown-food-forest-at-new-mount-rose.html
By Staff Reports
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — During National Gun Violence Awareness Month, a wounded combat veteran who survived both war and gunfire will join community volunteers in Fort Worth to help transform pain into purpose, violence into healing, and empty spaces into places of growth.
On Saturday, June 6, volunteers from across North Texas will gather at New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church for Build A Garden Box for the Block, a community-wide service project sponsored by the Funkytown Food Forest at New Mount Rose.
The event follows the observance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 5 and comes during National Gun Violence Awareness Month, a time when communities across America are encouraged to promote gun safety, honor victims of gun violence, and work together to build safer neighborhoods.
The project’s mission is simple but powerful.
Volunteers will construct 10 new community garden boxes that will be installed at the Funkytown Food Forest on the campus of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church. Together, these boxes will expand the church’s growing food forest and create additional opportunities to grow fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and healthy food for families throughout Fort Worth’s historic 76104 community.
The vision behind the effort can be summed up in one statement:
One Garden Box Can Help Feed an Entire Community Block.
When neighbors work together to grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, greens, and other produce, a simple wooden garden box becomes much more than wood and soil. It becomes a source of nutrition, education, fellowship, self-sufficiency, and hope.
When multiplied across the Funkytown Food Forest, these garden boxes become outdoor classrooms where children learn, gathering spaces where neighbors connect, and living examples of how communities can work together to address food insecurity and improve quality of life.
Each garden box represents an investment in healthier families, stronger neighborhoods, and a more sustainable future. Every seed planted is another step toward transforming a food desert into a thriving food forest.
The event also complements New Mount Rose’s ongoing Guns to Gardens and Heal From the Steel initiatives, programs designed to help communities recover from the effects of violence while creating opportunities for healing, restoration, and renewal.
Across America, nearly 47,000 people are killed and nearly 97,000 people are wounded by gunfire each year. Thousands of children, teenagers, military veterans, and families continue to experience the devastating impact of gun violence. Those realities remind community leaders of the importance of creating positive spaces where young people can learn, grow, and thrive.
A special highlight of the event will be the participation of Retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Tracy L. Brown Greene, National Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Greene served 22 years in the United States Army, including two combat deployments to the Middle East. During a 2016 deployment to Afghanistan, she survived a devastating suicide bombing attack at Bagram Airfield that nearly claimed her life. Wounded during combat operations, she understands firsthand the physical, emotional, and lifelong consequences of violence and gunfire.
Today, she serves as National Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, representing combat-wounded veterans across the nation. Her life stands as a testimony to resilience, courage, and service.
Having survived life-threatening injuries, Greene now dedicates her time to encouraging veterans, mentoring young people, promoting responsible firearm safety, and helping communities understand the value of peaceful conflict resolution.
Her participation sends a powerful message:
Violence may wound a person, but service can heal a community.
Organizers believe Greene’s presence creates a meaningful connection between National Gun Violence Awareness Month, New Mount Rose’s Guns to Gardens movement, and the community’s commitment to creating safer, healthier neighborhoods.
Some serve on battlefields.
Others serve in neighborhoods.
Both strengthen communities.
Organizers hope military veterans, civic leaders, faith communities, families, gardeners, and volunteers of all ages will join the effort.
“This event is about more than building garden boxes,” organizers said. “It is about cultivating opportunity, growing healthier families, strengthening neighborhoods, and creating a future where fresh food is accessible to everyone.”
It is about reducing violence by increasing hope.
It is about replacing vacant lots with vibrant gardens.
It is about transforming hurt into healing.
It is about turning guns into gardens.
And it all begins with one powerful belief:
If One Garden Box Can Help Feed an Entire Community Block, Imagine What Ten Garden Boxes Can Do.
Join us as we build, plant, grow, and harvest hope together.
BUILD A GARDEN BOX FOR THE BLOCK
Event Themes
• National Gun Violence Awareness Month
• Feed the Block From a Garden Box
• Loyal to the Soil
• Turning Food Deserts into Food Forests
• Guns to Gardens
• Heal From the Steel
• We Help As We Heal
Special Guest
Information
Donations
Zelle: newmtrosembc@gmail.com
Funkytown Food Forest at New Mount Rose
Growing Hope One Garden Box at a Time
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