Lynn Rippy (BF ’13, LN ’05), executive director, YouthBuild Louisville

by Lynn Rippy, Bingham Fellows Class of 2013 –

At the May program day with the Bingham Fellows Class of 2013, Cynthia Knapek’s promise that “If you just wait, it will all make sense” came together for me and many others in the class.

After the presentations, the beauty of our collective talents, research and interests created a pre-Derby glow determined to warm that spring salad mix up out of the earth! The process sprung forth as we believed it would, just as daffodils pop up on I-64 and our own trees and flowers began to bloom.

The 2013 Bingham Fellows formed the mission, values, principles, practice and process around Developing Louisville’s Smart Food Culture. Just like your garden looks when you arrive home with your early season plants, things are a bit unruly, the rows are still undefined and untilled. But the soil is rich and the plants are just waiting to root in it. Our ideas began to look like that to me. Strong and tall, full and bursting with promise.

So now what? The rows must be tilled and softened for the new ideas to take root. The roots must be planted firmly in the ground, watered with community input and support, fertilized with ongoing resources. And just as the warm sun beckons growth each day, we must make sure that sun shines on these ideas this year and beyond through our work, our contacts and our influence.

Yes, those pesky weeds will no doubt pop up to irritate the process. They will get in our way and they will seem overwhelming. Sometimes we will go for the weed killer (a quick and easy solution), but remember that we are looking for a “new way” to tend our garden large enough to really feed this city now and in the future. Get your sunhats, we are just getting started!