By Sonovia Pryor
Trinity Times Correspondent

As Alice Beri-Njamnsi climbed aboard the shuttle bus on the Trinity Washington University campus on a windy Earth Day 2023, she began to anticipate her peaceful arrival at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America just a little more than a mile north in the same Brookland neighborhood.

Notre Dame Sister Ann Howard, Trinity’s director of campus ministry, greeted Beri-Njamnsi and another Trinity student before the bus began its journey to Washington’s hidden little gem, a religious oasis nicknamed “Little Jerusalem,” adorned with Holy Land replicas and orate gardens throughout its scenic grounds.

The two students stepped off of the bus and walked a few blocks to the spiritual site to do some volunteer gardening for the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild, considering this to be an appropriate way of celebrating Earth Day, April 22.

Beri-Njamnsi, who is a junior at Trinity and a campus ministry student leader, has been volunteering at the monastery garden since February.

She enjoys this service work assignment because she feels at peace in the beautiful setting, plus the mission helps the environment. 

“A moment to just put my phone away and deal with the environment,” Beri-Njamnsi said as she anticipated placing her hands in the soil. “It’s really peaceful for me.” 

Every Saturday at noon for the past several months she has greeted the other volunteers at the Trinity shuttle to take them to do service work at the Monastery, a mission campus ministry has sponsored for the past five years.

On this cloudy Saturday, the Trinity volunteers were helping the monastery’s garden guild pot various plants to prepare for its annual two-day plant sale, which took place April 29-30.

Upon entering the monastery, Beri-Najamnsi was greeted by a combination of art and architecture submerged in a garden of recently perished tulips and the beginnings of blooming rose bushes. 

A brief walk through the replicas of sacred shrines and many native plants led her to a gloomy, landscape view of the garden, where she was greeted by other volunteers serenely utilizing the wooden picnic tables as their workstations.

It becomes a labor of love for Beri-Najamnsi as she soaks in the tranquility on the grounds of the monastery, a national shrine that upholds the Franciscan Friars’ 800-year mission to support the Holy Land, its people, and sacred sites. 

To the left of the picnic tables, a dimly lit entrance to a greenhouse is stocked with garden tools and supplies. The glass walls and roof provide a haven for tropical flowers, plants, and herbs.

The monastery garden guild was officially established in 1998 with a mission to “preserve and promote the gardens at the Franciscan Monastery in keeping with the Franciscan tradition that God is revealed to us through his creations.” 

Over the years this endeavor has resulted in the production of approximately 38 tons of fresh produce. 

All produce harvested at the garden is donated to local organizations to help feed those in need at no cost. 

Lou Maroulis is a full-time volunteer and currently serves as the chief executive officer of the garden guild. He’s in charge of coordinating all volunteers who do service work at the monastery every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.

Each year thousands of consumers patronize the annual monastery garden sale, which generates thousands of dollars in profit used to pay for expenses associated with the garden’s upkeep and maintenance. 

In 2022 the plant sale generated about $67,000. “When I had my first plant sale nine years ago, we had averaged about $35,000,” Maroulis said. “So, to go from $35,000 to $67,000 is really good. After we pay off all of our expenses…, any of our profits go toward the greenhouse restoration fund.”