The Please Touch Community Garden is based upon the idea that bringing together communities that may otherwise never meet can create amazing things.

Everyone brings their own slice of the pie- whether in expertise, knowledge, resources or energy, and together as a team, we are able to make this awesome project a reality.

Back Info:

In 2010, local artist Gk Callahan partnered with LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to obtain a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for an ambitious project: a large-scale community garden that would be accessible to all, regardless of disability. We named this project the Please Touch Community Garden—And here we are!!!

Project Directors

GK Callahan
Artist 

http://gkcallahan.com/news.html

Theresa Navarro

The Please Touch Family

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Alicia Yballa

Twenty years into her popular Marin County dental practice, Alicia sensed her life’s creative work still ahead of her — in Landscape Architecture and Urban/nature interface Planning. 

She completed the UC Berkeley Extension and San Francisco State curriculum with a special focus on Wetland Sciences and GIS for Environmental Planning.  She brings a lifetime of professional expertise in project management, human health, construction materials, and stewardship to bear on the manifold challenges of the built environment. 

Versatility, enthusiasm and longtime collaboration with others mean she is a perfect match for any planning and design challenges, both in the public and the private sector. 

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Aurora Mahassine

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Rob Joyce

Rob Joyce has been a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area for the past twenty years. As a volunteer at Hayes Valley Farm and Please Touch Community Garden, he is happy to be engaged in the positive transformation of urban spaces. 

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The Permaculture students who help us see the vision

Zaira Lopez
Zaira is a permaculture designer living in San Francisco, originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco.

She has always been in love with nature, arts, and community with a dream to help create sustainable areas where people of all kinds can use their energy in a positive way for the world.

Her main goal is continuous learning and growing, for herself and the Cosmos around her, on all levels, everywhere. 

Sean Howe
From a harbor town in Washington, Sean grew up around salt water inlets, forest and mountains.

His upbringing in this beautiful region has played a large role in his interests in art and permaculture. He attended the University of Washington and studied Ceramics. Working with clay allowed an even deeper appreciation for all the amazing materials we find here on earth.

Since moving to San Francisco Sean has been working at art museums installing the shows and collecting excess materials for his own art. He enjoys using found objects and materials because they are free and can bring a history to guide his imagination.

He took a permaculture class last winter.

Diana Tirado
dianatirado.blogspot.com

San Francisco native, Diana Tirado, is a certified permaculture designer and artist, having received a BA in Fine Arts from San Francisco State University.

An avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast, she has an open mind for different cultures and lifestyles, enjoys working with children, is fluent in English/Spanish, and surfs, rockclimbs, and hikes. 
  

The Blind Leaders 
Tommy Lucier
James Gump
Jessa Drury
Anthony Dalli
Ari
Dawn 

Key Contributors



This project is being done in partnership with The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, who promote the independence, equality and self-reliance of people who are blind or visually impaired through rehabilitation training and relevant services, such as access to employment, education, government, information, recreation, transportation and the environment.

San Francisco Permaculture Guild

Recology

SF Department of Public Works

Bayview Greenery

Pacific Interlock Pavingstone 

Funding for this project provided by:

The San Francisco Arts Commission 

Land provided by City and County of San Francisco

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Would you like to become a collaborator?
Email Gk & Theresa at: pleasetouchgarden@gmail.com