Green Grace
Green Grace is an award-winning faith-based coalition of volunteers who love, protect, and defend the Earth as God’s Holy Creation. It is designed to present a menu of large and small actions from which congregations may pick and choose in accordance with their strengths and interests and is open and available to any and all faith traditions.
Grace Grounds
Grace Grounds volunteers faithfully support and maintain the arboretum, and have worked to shift the landscape from generic, non-native plantings to native species. Thanks to their work, the Grace grounds are now home to certified pollinator/butterfly gardens, a community food garden, a free vegetable garden, a Saturday farmers market, a permanent water source for wildlife, and a pavilion with a green roof for community use. The entire property is certified as a National Wildlife Federation Urban Wildlife Habitat, listed as an official project for the Hamilton County Master Gardeners program, are a certified Monarch Waystation, and have butterfly gardens certified by the North American Butterfly Association (NABA).
Green Grace Arboretum
Green Grace Arboretum was inspired by the mature tree canopy on the grounds of Grace Episcopal Church. Built in the late 1950s, this church owns an unusual and significant amount (~3 acres) green/ open space accessible to the public at all times. It sits in a densely populated, racially and economically diverse, park- starved, part of Chattanooga. The property is crossed by bus routes, pedestrian sidewalks and neighborhood foot traffic, as well as busy highways and high speed traffic corridors. This Tennessee Urban Forestry Council Certified Level 2 Arboretum is intended to be an oasis of green and calm in a loud, hot, busy neighborhood, offering both a respite and access into the natural world.
Green Buildings
Goals for Grace's Green Buildings effots include lowering the church's energy and carbon footprint through a variety of actions, large and small, exemplifying how small choices add up. We hope that the building itself will provide examples for our members, as well as other faith communities and organizations, on how do the same in their own homes and businesses. This includes both building improvements and practices such as recycling and eliminating the use of plastic water bottles.
Local power company energy audit
Light bulbs and fixtures, modernize
Improve recycling; hold ‘hard to recycle’ drives.
Check cleaning products
Weather stripping
Exploring options for solar installations
Weatherproofing.
Improve stormwater runoff, retaining more on site.
Eliminate, reduce plastic water bottles, reduce plastic.
Reduce light pollution.
Green Neighbors
The Goal of Grace's Green Neighbors effort is to serve as a resource to neighbors, the city, and to other faith communities on the care of creation by incorporating fellowship, hospitality, seminars, and celebrations.
Configure outdoor spaces as places for gathering community.
Free food gardens.
Connect church grounds/arboretum to public walkways.
Support farmers' markets
Quarterly or seasonal plant exchanges, home grown food drives.
Education tables, clinics and swap/giveaway events (schools clothes, coat, sock drives).
Educational workshops, classes, seminars for the public.
Open meeting space to community groups.
Foster collaborations with schools, neighborhood centers? Garden mentors/helpers?
Arboretum and other community projects, seminars, celebrations.
Coordinate joint action/practices with other faith communities, within and outside of our denomination.
Coordinate, advertise collections for hard to recycle items: batteries, glasses, medicine, home chemicals, other.
Clothing/coat swaps?
Celebrate public Earth Day and Season of Creation observances.
Upcoming events.
Our calendar shows events of GreenGrace and others throughout the community that share similar goals. Community events can be shared with us in the Contact Us section below, we’d love to hear from you.
