As a psychologist in private practice who retired from the Alabama Department of Mental Health, Beverly Bell-Shambley knows the impact that the environment can have on mental health. She knows that spending time in nature can decrease anxiety and help people battling depression.
“And communing with nature can help with dealing with the chaos that we sometimes encounter in our communities and in our country,” Bell-Shambley said.
But these benefits only scratch the surface of why she’s passionate about planting trees, growing community gardens and promoting environmental education in Tuscaloosa County and beyond.
“I developed a passion for nature and growing things and self-sufficiency and doing what it is that we as human beings can do to preserve the earth that God gave us to the best of our ability,” she said.
Bell-Shambley does this work in part through the Cultured Pearls Foundation of Tuscaloosa County, a philanthropic arm of the Eta Xi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The nonprofit organization provides scholarships for students and gives donations to other nonprofits doing notable work in local communities.
Bell-Shambley, along with co-chairs Etta Felton and Cynthia Harris, heads the organization’s Enhancing Our Environment Initiative. Through this initiative, the Cultured Pearls Foundation is planting seeds – and trees – for a better tomorrow both literally and figuratively. The initiative focuses on planting trees, growing community and home gardens, reducing waste, recycling and teaching young people the importance of being good stewards of the earth.
This work has been supported in part through a Good Roots grant from the Alabama Power Foundation. The foundation believes that green spaces contribute to a town’s sense of community and seeks to support those efforts through the Good Roots grant program. By providing grant funding to cities, towns, and communities to plant trees and support beautification efforts, the foundation aims to help organizations like Cultured Pearls that are doing their part to keep Alabama beautiful and vibrant.
With the help of a Good Roots grant, last year, Cultured Pearls planted trees at Caring Days, an adult day care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders. The group planted trees at local schools and churches, including Davis-Emerson Middle School, Southview Elementary School, Flatwoods Elementary School, and Plum Grove Baptist Church. They’ve helped out with landscaping for local Habitat for Humanity projects, too. Students from the area often participate in these efforts to plant trees and shrubs, and Cultured Pearls also works with students from schools like STARS Academy in a local greenhouse.
“One of the most fulfilling parts of the grant was the opportunity to educate the children and educate families,” Bell-Shambley said. She enjoys teaching young people and their families the importance of planting trees.
Yes, trees help purify the air and protect against soil erosion, but they do so much more.
“It’s about the beautification that they provide and the serenity that they provide and recognizing that this is a part of nature,” she said. “These trees mature and live even far longer than they, so it’s a teaching experience about nature and the importance of preserving it, preserving nature for generations to come.”
Bell-Shambley is confident that the work she’s doing is making an impact.
“A lot of the work that we have been doing has been with children, and I see the excitement that they exhibit when we’re doing the planting, the curiosity and the questions that they ask,” she said. “From the gardening perspective, a large part of our focus is on planting from seeds and self-sufficiency. Kids are seeing what they planted from seeds mature. You love to eat watermelon. But guess what? You can take those seeds and dry them out, and when it’s planting time, you can plant those seeds from the watermelon and grow your own.”
Teaching children how to grow their own food is one of Bell-Shambley’s greatest goals.
“I see them develop a passion for gardening and growing things,” she said of the students she’s worked with. “Maybe they don’t fully understand what it means when we’re talking about self-sufficiency and being able to feed your family even if you’re not able to go to Walmart or to Publix, but for them to see that there are some things that you can grow yourself — that’s been extremely rewarding.”
Learn more about the Good Roots grant program at PowerofGood.com.
Courtesy of Alabama News Center
