New Columbus nonprofit has a plan for this vacant property. How to get involved
Columbus residents have come together to put down roots — and pick up trash — on Warm Springs Road.
Living Mosaic Collective, a newly formed nonprofit organization, aims to turn a vacant piece of the former Jordan Mill property at 1311 Warm Springs Road into a community garden and art space.
The nonprofit was founded by Kristin Andris, a social studies teacher at Veterans Memorial Middle School. Andris told the Ledger-Enquirer that the idea for the organization came from growing curiosity about the site, passing it often while driving.
“I started chatting with neighbors, and I found lots of resources and people who were just interested in helping and willing to contribute their talents,” she said. “With having a background in grant writing and in volunteer management, I eventually thought that with the right people, we could really pull this off.”
Andris then contacted the landowner, who gave her permission to start transforming the lot.
The vision took a major step forward in March during the group’s first volunteer workday. Partnering with the cleanup organization Throw It In The Bag, the collective drew about 60 volunteers who cleared roughly 3,000 pounds of trash in about three hours, Andris said.
The haul included mattresses, tires and what she described as “old contractor stuff” that had filled the structure on site.
Seeing the community work together to accomplish this vision inspired Andris.
“It’s really reaffirming that what I’m doing is something that the community wants to be a part of. That’s really reassuring,” she said. “My fear [at first] was that I would be alone and that it would just be me, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything with that. But seeing how much the community supports it makes me know that we’re going to be able to accomplish this. It also brings a lot of hope.”
On a second workday, a group of Girl Scouts helped paint salvaged tires Living Mosaic plans to repurpose for pollinator gardens. For future cleanups, Andris said, activities will be reserved for young volunteers.
Andris said the collective’s name reflects its mission of reuse and collaboration.
“It’s called the Living Mosaic because it is this idea that we’re bringing in old scraps and turning them into something new,” she said. “We all might be a little bit broken, but when you pull us all together, then we can create something new, like a mosaic.”
What’s next for the project?
The collective is now raising $10,000 to replace the roof of the structure that will be the community greenhouse and to get water running at the site. As of publication, they have reached 17% of their goal. To donate, go to livingmosaiccollective.org.
The next community cleanup day is April 25 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. More information about community cleanups and events can be found on the Living Mosaic Collective website.