Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, pastor of Dietz United Methodist Church, is the inaugural recipient of Omaha by Design’s Neighborhood Leaf award, which recognizes an individual, organization or business that has worked to preserve and enhance the metropolitan area’s residential neighborhoods.

S. 10th Street Pastor to Receive Inaugural Neighborhood Leaf

Editor’s Note: Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, pastor of Dietz United Methodist Church at 1423 S. 10th St., is the inaugural recipient of Omaha by Design’s Neighborhood Leaf. The annual award recognizes an individual, organization or business that has worked to preserve and enhance the metropolitan area’s residential neighborhoods. Rev. Ahlschwede will be honored at the August meeting of the Omaha by Design Advisory Committee.

Patrons of the Blue Flamingo on Omaha’s South 10th Street are a varied lot. Those in need of a second-hand toaster or a set of gently-used dishes browse side by side with shoppers in search of a vintage find or an unusual gift from the store’s line of fair trade products. All are welcomed by the Flamingo staff, including Blue, a three-year-old Silky Terrier with a fondness for ear scratches.

Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, pastor of Dietz United Methodist Church, wouldn’t have it any other way. The store, now three and a half years old, operates in the black following three years of grant support. It began as a clothing closet at her South 10th Street church. “During our second event, we gave away 900 pieces of clothing to 250 people in four hours,” she said. “Clearly, there was a need for this type of service.”

The Lincoln, Neb., native – now in her fifth year at Dietz – is similarly resolute when it comes to neighborhood involvement at home. “It bothers me when I see something that needs to be done,” she said. “I do it, but I also try and get other people involved so the need can be taken care of in the future.”

At the start of 2007, Ahlschwede became president of the Leavenworth Neighborhood Association, a position her husband, Todd Wyatt, held in 2005. The 20-year-old organization runs from Interstate 80 to 36th and from Pacific to Dodge. One of its current activities, the Leavenworth Health Project, brings health screenings and educational activities to local residents in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Mobile Nursing Unit. Its current focus is diabetes prevention.

The project, spearheaded by Wyatt and Ahlschwede, is an example of her focus on asset building to strengthen neighborhoods. “We just so happen to have three bilingual nurses living in our association’s boundaries, and we started talking about a way to capitalize on this asset to help create systemic change,” Ahlschwede said.

Asset building, the Omaha Royals season ticket holder contends, begins by collecting a neighborhood’s stories. “You simply find out where people are and hang out with them,” she said. “It’s more about listening than asking and then trying to see what percolates.”

When Ahlschwede was looking for a hands-on project that would “percolate” with her church members and the local neighborhood, she applied for a U.S.D.A. community garden grant. “Churches are always telling people to do good things, but the only thing we ask them for is money,” she said. “I wanted to give people access to something that would bring them face to face with the things we’re talking about.”

The result of that effort is the BIG (Building Independence and Growth) Garden Project. It seeks to:

• Provide nutritious food to residents of East Omaha;
• Build stronger neighborhoods;
• Provide nutrition and preventive health education;
• Foster lifelong learning;
• Create opportunities for volunteerism; and
• Promote intergenerational activities based around community gardens.
  
  

When he’s not catching a few winks in the window, Blue, a Silky Terrier, greets shoppers at the Blue Flamingo on S. 10th Street.

During the project’s first year, five garden sites hosted 43,000 volunteer visits, Ahlschwede said. Of the 3,000 pounds of food raised, 1,000 pounds was donated to local food pantries. This year, the project manages 15 garden sites throughout east Omaha and Bellevue, including one in the backyard of the Blue Flamingo. 

It’s a busy backyard.

The green space adjacent to the community garden serves as the home of “Fridays at the Blue,” a free monthly series featuring live music, readings and art demonstrations. The series, Ahlschwede said, is yet another form of neighborhood asset building, giving community members the opportunity to share through literature and art. It complements the Blue Flamingo’s home library program, in which every child who visits the store can choose a free book to add to his or her home library.

The Blue Flamingo accepts donations of housewares, clothing, books, pictures and non-perishable food items. For more information, visit http://www.blueflamingo.org.

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