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Billings, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older gardeners struggled with heavy clay soil and low beds, making gardening painful and limiting produce donations to food pantries. The garden added four tall raised beds, five fruit trees and drip irrigation systems. It also put in kneeler benches and hose hangers to reduce strain and improve safety. These upgrades let older adults keep gardening and boosted donations of fresh vegetables. One gardener said moving to a raised bed let her continue gardening despite physical limitations, while others praised the ease and sense of community the improvements provide.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Fort Pierre, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: To provide residents the chance to grow fresh produce, the City of Fort Pierre began construction of its community garden in 2018. To kick off the project, organizers cleared the lot and constructed 24 raised beds, each including their own water spigot. The City also planted fruit trees at the site. As work continued in 2019, the City erected a fence around the gardens, added wood chips to create mud-free walkways between plots and installed picnic tables. That year all beds in the garden were rented. In 2020, the City added an accessible picnic table with an umbrella. Two local restaurants use the garden to raise produce for their menus and about 75 percent of gardeners renting plots are 60 or older. Project organizers report the success of the garden inspired other efforts to encourage healthy living in Fort Pierre, including improvements to the local trail system, a mural downtown and new lighting on a pedestrian bridge.
Scarborough, ME
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older adults in Scarborough face challenges staying active and managing heating costs on fixed incomes. Project GRACE expanded three community gardens, adding 15 new beds and growing over 800 pounds of produce for local food pantries. It also hosted a "Snug It Up" workshop for 75 older adults, offering weatherization tips, free DIY supplies and emergency fuel assistance for dozens of households. The gardens fostered social engagement and healthy eating, while the workshop helped residents prepare for winter. "I applaud the essential work... that helps our community to stay comfortably warm and snugged up this winter," one attendee wrote.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Anadarko, OK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Delaware Nation created an accessible community garden in an area designated as a food desert. Residents of all ages use the garden to plant and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables. The garden includes 25 raised beds, constructed at different heights to accommodate older adults and people with mobility differences. Two beds are specifically designated for growing native plants. Delaware Nation also purchased gardening tools, including wheelbarrows, trellises, garden hoses, an irrigation system and reusable frost blankets. Much of the produce grown onsite is used in meals prepared for the tribe's older members. Tables, shade umbrellas and a charcoal grill allow tribal members to gather and enjoy produce from the garden together.
Chickasha, OK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: As part of wider efforts to revitalize Chickasha's downtown, the Chickasha Economic Development Council made several streetscape improvements. To increase foot traffic to local businesses, volunteers decorated crosswalks with pavement art and created a mural. They also installed benches and bike tracks. The branding effort is meant to redefine the town's commercial district and connect it with the surrounding neighborhoods. Project organizers hope to build on the improvements in the future, adding additional public art and pedestrian infrastructure.
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