Rooted in Community: Bruce Kidney Creates the Unity Garden

Story by Konni Lorenz

The sun beats down on a humid July day. Bruce Kidney stands, his hands full of fresh vegetables, waiting for the door to open at a home in Dayton, Ohio’s Riverdale neighborhood. When it does, he’ll offer the produce.

The vegetables came from the Unity Garden directly behind Kettering Health Dayton.

Sitting on property owned by the medical center, the garden is in a community heavily populated by African refugees placed there as part of its refugee settlement program.

Caring for patients and plants

By day, Bruce serves patients as an RN in the Postanesthesia Care Unit at Kettering Health Dayton. But he also has a passion for food. He’d always dreamt of starting a community garden.

In a previous role with Kettering Health, Bruce worked with a physician who traveled to Africa with Doctors Without Borders.

“I had two young children. I couldn’t run off to Africa to help her volunteer,” he said.

But Bruce was inspired to find a way to connect his passions closer to home. When he learned the neighborhoods surrounding Kettering Health Dayton are in a food desert, it all clicked.

Cultivating community

Today, he wears many hats as the manager of the Unity Garden, with support from volunteers who help weed, plant, and cultivate the plant beds.

The community garden provides a space for residents to grow and harvest fresh vegetables for their households. Bruce supports them by providing donated plants and nutrients and helping till. He also manages a smaller garden with donated plants as well as traditional African vegetables.

When it’s time to harvest, Bruce goes door-to-door, handing out the produce and meeting neighbors. He also spreads the word about the garden.

“It’s a blessing to provide fresh and nutritious vegetables at no cost to the community surrounding the hospital who have no other options nearby.”

Bruce has worked for Kettering Health for nearly 20 years—much of that on the front lines. On tough days, he’s grateful to escape to the garden and feel the sun on his skin and dirt on his hands—to see the growth he and the community have created.