Kent Attainable Housing (KAH), the recently-formed non-profit organization, is pleased to announce receipt of a generous donation from ShoreRivers of a river-friendly yard for the Garnet House, its first home located across from Garnet Elementary School on College Avenue in Chestertown. In keeping with the organization’s mission to assist landowners, towns, and communities in funding and developing innovative pollution-reduction projects, ShoreRivers will provide the concept and the native plants, specifically tailored to the location. Volunteers will do the planting to create a low-maintenance yard that will serve as a demonstration of good land and water stewardship.
In a statement Darran Tilghman, ShoreRivers Director of Community Engagement, said, “ShoreRivers is so excited to partner with Kent Attainable Housing on its first home, and to collaborate with a family to become good stewards of our waterways. The river-friendly yard we are co-designing will mimic the natural environment to benefit water quality, native species, and our local ecosystem. In a time when it is easy to feel despondent about our environmental future, this is a hopeful truth: stitching together small habitats into conservation corridors may make the essential difference we need for all species, including our own, to thrive. Each of us can make positive change in our own backyard while enjoying beautiful, resilient native species.”
Photo: ShoreRivers staff Tim Trumbauer and Darran Tilghman (pre-COVID-19) explore the property of the first KAH home site with VP of Construction Ed Minch to create a river-friendly yard that ShoreRivers is donating to the Garnet House.
River-friendly yards feature colorful and low-maintenance native plants, create bird and pollinator habitat, improve soggy lawns and basements, and help to restore water quality in Eastern Shore waterways. ShoreRivers 24-page booklet ”River Friendly Yards” contains tips, strategies, recommended native plants, and illustrations and can be found at https://www.shorerivers.org/river-friendly-yards.
“We are very grateful to ShoreRivers for this wonderful contribution. Not only will it create a very attractive streetfront, but it will serve as a model for other homeowners who put a priority on conservation,” said Lani Seikaly, President of the KAH Board of Directors.
KAH is creating home ownership opportunities for local, low-families in need of safe, decent, and affordable housing. To date, more than twenty-four applicants have turned to Kent Attainable Housing, Inc. in search of affordable housing. Their first home is in production at the Beracah plant and scheduled to arrive on October 26 where volunteers will complete the home and landscape the grounds. KAH has secured a second piece of property to begin construction for another family.
More information about ShoreRivers can be found on their website at https://www.shorerivers.org. You can view Kent Attainable Housing’s website at http://kentattainablehousing.org.
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