Hamilton, MT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project engaged older adults to serve as hosts of a community garden in their own yards or elsewhere. Teen volunteers maintained the gardens, with hosts doing the watering and receiving a share of the produce. The hosts donated the rest of the produce.

Naknek, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Camai Community Health Center serves Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska, which has no connecting roads. The only way to get people and goods in or out is via airplane and, in recent years, shipping challenges have severely limited the community's access to fresh produce. This project created six raised garden beds for vegetables and flowers, as well as three ADA-compliant benches where elders can visit with each other and their families as they tend the garden. Additionally, Camai Community Health Center offered workshops for elders to teach younger residents how to grow healthy foods, just as they have traditionally taught youth to fish.

Pine Bluff, AR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: For children living below the poverty line in Pine Bluffs, affordable fruits and vegetables are difficult to come by. The Seed to Table Community Garden helps to close the gap, providing garden plots for local families. The City of Pine Bluffs further improved the garden by installing an accessible pavilion and eight benches. They also provided extra gardening supplies, fertilizer and seedlings to help the garden serve additional residents.