Cissy’s Garden: Community
While preparing for the April 2026 Love Where You Are event, Friends of the B&O Trail met Cissy.
We were learning more about the neighborhoods along the trail — where dumping was happening, where brush had taken over, and where neighbors were already doing the quiet work of caring for their community.
Cissy was one of those neighbors.
She became connected to the garden in May 2021 and soon became an official Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Block Captain because she wanted to do more than maintain a greenspace.
"I wanted to beautify the space and invite neighbors to view, communicate, and appreciate the beauty of nature and native plants."
To Cissy, this isn't just a garden. It's an opportunity to bring people together.
She dreams of a place where colorful flowers brighten the street, children enjoy nature, neighbors gather and connect, and everyone feels proud of where they live. She hopes the garden reminds us that even small acts of kindness and hard work can make a lasting difference.
Like so many community projects, the biggest challenge isn't the vision—it's sustaining it.
Over the years, several of Cissy's volunteer teammates have moved away, leaving fewer hands to help maintain the space. Illegal dumping and overgrown vegetation continue to threaten the progress she's worked so hard to achieve.
But she hasn't given up.
Her grandsons help too—sometimes lovingly "volun-told," as grandchildren often are—but always with a glad heart. That's what we love most about this story. It isn't just about pulling weeds or picking up trash. It's about family becoming part of the community, and the community becoming family.
Today, through Keep Indianapolis Beautiful's Adopt-A-Block program, Cissy receives support with cleanup supplies and resources. But what has always powered this space is one neighbor's commitment to creating something better.
Success, she says, isn't just seeing flowers bloom…
It's seeing a neighborhood grow stronger through beauty, respect, and community pride.
Now we'd love to help make that vision a reality.
Join Friends of the B&O Trail on Saturday, July 25, from 8:00–11:30 a.m. as we help reclaim Cissy's Garden. We'll be clearing invasive brush, removing trash, treating invasive plants, and helping restore this special community space so it can continue growing into the welcoming neighborhood gathering place Cissy has envisioned since 2021.
Whether you can stay for an hour or the whole morning, we'd love to have you.
