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  • Profile: Todd Marti

    Todd Marti, a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Columbus, serves as a “garden steward” for the community garden located on the grounds of the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church at Mill Run. Todd’s garden stewardship is a clear reflection of his care for creation and his fellow man. Each year vegetables are planted on two-thirds of the 12,500 square feet garden. When the tomatoes, beets, squash, lettuce and other vegetables are harvested they are donated to the Hilliard Free Lunch Summer Camp for Kids, and Mid-Ohio Food Bank partner pantries. On average 10,000 pounds of produce is harvested and donated annually. Over the life of the garden 130,000 plus pounds of produce have been donated. The recipient of the Franklin Park conservatory Growing to Green Gardener of the Year Award in 2012, Todd utilizes innovative gardening practices such as companion planting and sequencing of multiple crops to enhance output. The garden helps preserve God’s creation by composting food waste and coffee grounds from local coffee shops and restaurants. Yard waste is also composed including that generated by St. Francis of Assisi from its flower and vegetable gardens.

    When he is not working in the community garden—which he is every Saturday from spring until mid-November--or recruiting volunteers to help with weeding, planting and harvesting, Todd can be found at his day job as an Assistant Attorney General for State of Ohio.

  • Profile: Paula Penn-Nabrit (Founder of The Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden)

    Paula Penn-Nabrit's autobiography (from her website):

    "Spiritually, I’ve been blessed as a practicing Christian, a 4th generation member of The Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, the same apostolic/pentecostal church my great-grandparents joined 100+ years ago.

    Physically, I’m blessed as an 8th generation, native-born American of the African diaspora. I’m blessed to be a widow who was happily married for 36 years, 8 months and 22 days to an incredible man, Charles “CMadison” Nabrit. And CMadison and I were incredibly blessed by the opportunity to parent and then homeschool three fabulous sons, twins Charles and Damon who arrived in 1980, and Evan who arrived in 1982.

    Academically, I’ve been blessed by my parents’ willingness to help pay for my education first at Columbus School for Girls and then Wellesley College. And I was further blessed by their willingness to help CMadison fund my quest for that terminal degree at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.

    Professionally, I continue to be blessed by decades of successful operation with my consulting firm, PN&A, Inc. www.nabrit.com/pna. I started PN&A, Inc. in 1986. Next in 1990 I convinced CMadison we could stay married and work together, then in 2007 we welcomed first Damon our tech guru and later Charles as researcher and presenter into the business and finally in 2009 Evan, our youngest and a freakishly brilliant artist, agreed to manage our freelance graphics and client videos. I’m blessed to see PN&A, Inc., a black, women-owned, family-run, information-based business moving into the 2nd generation.

    Intellectually, I’ve been blessed to write several books, including Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League @2003, Random House and most recently The Power of a Virtuous Woman @2012.

    Personally, I’m blessed by my extended family. In 1980 with the birth of their first grandchildren my parents began a tradition of gathering their children, their children’s spouses and their grandchildren for dinner each Sunday after church. Attendance at Grandmother and GrandDad’s Sunday dinners has grown to include nine grandchildren. We miss CMadison and Daddy, but we continue to be blessed by their memory and their legacy."