Community Corner

Hamburger Man Makes Room for Vegetables in Wyandotte

Jeremy Sladovnik, owner of Joe's Hamburgers in Wyandotte, has big plans for a lot located behind his restaurant.

Update: Jeremy Sladovnik has been selected as Huffington Post's Greatest Person of the Day. To see who else has held this title, go to huffingtonpost.com/news/greatest-person-of-the-day

A Wyandotte business owner known for his hamburgers plans to turn a gloomy lot behind his restaurant into a place for cultivating foods not typically found on his menu.

Restaurant owner Jeremy Sladovnik plans to turn the lot into a community garden where Wyandotte residents can grow vegetables.

Poppy's Urban Garden is an idea that came to Sladovnik after seeing Lafayette Greens built on the former site of the Lafayette Building on Shelby, Lafayette and Michigan avenues in Detroit.

"I want to turn a desolate piece of property into something useful," Sladovnik said.

Sladovnik raised funds for the project through his Stars Shining Through non-profit organization, which supports local causes in Wyandotte.

Nearly all of the 3,000-square-foot lot will be covered with about 60 raised wooden beds filled with topsoil, where residents can grow almost anything.

"They'll be enough space for everybody," Sladovnik said.

Local business Daly Merritt Insurance donated wood to be used to make the raised beds.

The project was recently approved by the City of Wyandotte, which donated a 2,200-gallon rain water reservoir to keep plants growing all season long.

Sladovnik said he is currently looking for volunteers to help him change the largely forgotten lot into a place residents can congregate, eat lunch and garden.

Contact Jeremy Sladovnik for more information on volunteering or to donate to the Stars Shinning Through foundation, 125 Elm Street, 734-285-0420.


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