On a sunny corner of San Francisco’s Mission District, you’ll find the Centro Latino de San Francisco, a warm and inviting community center serving the elderly and adults with disabilities since 1986.
And serving is what they do. Originally created as a nutrition project in 1972, the center’s founders, Ernest “Chuck” Ayala and Gloria Bonilla, sought to address the critical needs of the elderly in underserved areas of the city by offering nutritional programs and meals to those in need.
Today, Centro Latino SF not only serves hundreds of meals a day to its community, but also offers a wide breadth of programming including supportive services, socialization programs, health and wellness activities, and citizenship classes.
Wouldn’t plants complement such a vibrant and diverse space dedicated to the well-being of its community? One of our customers thought so, nominating the Centro Latino for Plant A Seed, a program in partnership with LBE Design to offer donations of beautiful yet imperfect plants and ceramics to schools, hospitals, and shelters across our communities.
The Center welcomed us with open arms. A south-facing industrial building, it was the perfect new home for a handful of plants in need, including several cacti to decorate their sun-drenched rooftop overlooking the block. With their guidance, we peppered common areas and classrooms with leafy greenery, knowing that they would thrive.
During our visit, people came and went: meal pick up, a yoga class, various meetings. Now more than ever, perhaps, places like the Centro Latino SF are essential to the people they serve.
"Our space has so many uses. Apart from our meal service, we host classes, meetings, and other gatherings every day. It’s important to us that the Centro feels like home to the people who come here,” says Omar, a staff member at the center.
Plants help us feel grounded, and remind us our innate connection to nature, if even on a subliminal level. They beautify any space, and bring us joy with their new growth. And while the Centro Latino already feels so alive, the staff agreed that it was brought “even a bit more to life” with their new leafy (and prickly!) family members.
Know of an organization* with a dreary space that could use some beautiful greenery? Tell us about their mission and how we can help liven up their space!
*Must be in the San Francisco or Los Angeles areas.
