Tina Pokorny works on a sampler of dried flowers at the Homeless Garden Project's workshop in downtown Santa Cruz. She also works at the project's organic farm on the west side of town.

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Project in Santa Cruz helps women flourish
PROGRAM LETS HOMELESS CLIENTS EARN AS THEY LEARN

tina Pokorny was recovering from breast cancer, struggling with addictions and looking for permanent housing when she wandered into the Homeless Garden Project's Christmas shop in downtown Santa Cruz about a year ago.

``I had always wanted to work with flowers,'' says Tina, 52, who also was going through a divorce and undergoing radiation treatment at the time. ``I needed a change.''

She took a moment to watch the other homeless women making wreaths for the gift shop. Eventually, she joined the project herself in an effort to turn her life around. A college graduate who had worked for years as a probation officer, Tina had suddenly become homeless herself, and was spending her nights camping out in Santa Cruz.

A year later, she alternates between working mornings making wreaths, candles and other dried-flower arrangements to sell at the gift shop and helping to grow organic produce and flowers at the project's farm on the western edge of Santa Cruz.

She's off the streets, living in a rented RV, and attending AA meetings regularly. About 13 homeless trainees are paid to work part time (about 20 hours a week) for the project, which not only teaches agricultural skills and provides retail training, but also helps trainees move on to other jobs, find housing and regain the self-respect they need to pull their lives together.

``When I was graduating from college, I never dreamed I'd be here,'' Tina says. She hopes to someday combine her new agricultural skills with her past experience in corrections to provide therapy for at-risk kids by putting them to work outside.

The stagnant economy has forced the project to cut eight trainee positions in the past year. To help bring those positions back, donations of $160 (13A) will pay for one week's wages. Each $250 donation (13B) provides for a year's worth of benefits for one trainee (including dental care and bus passes). Gifts of $39 (13C) will cover tools and supplies for one trainee for a year.