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Custer Area Economic Development Committee Recreation/Wellness Committee (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
After flooding destroyed the Custer Community Garden, the Custer Area Economic Development set out to relocate the beloved amenity to a new site. The organization created a new garden at a local high school, installing 16 raised beds, including wheelchair accessible and raised options to accommodate gardeners of all ability levels. Workers laid compost and mulch at the site and installed fencing to keep out foraging wildlife. The school's lunch program now has access to excess produce grown in the garden, which also provides educational programming to the community. Project organizers report that since the improvements, leaders from neighboring communities have reached out for advice for creating their own gardens.
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Anchorage, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Many Anchorage residents who visit the city's food pantries have traditionally lacked access to fresh produce. The St. Francis House Food Pantry, run by Catholic Social Services, serves more than 10,000 people every year, distributing more than 700,000 pounds of food. To offer more fresh vegetables, CSS transformed an underused courtyard on the St. Francis House property into a community garden with 15 raised beds. Volunteers also created a mural depicting Alaska wildlife to decorate the area used for drive-through food pickup. Older adult volunteers manage the garden, which gives food pantry clients and CSS staff a space to share ideas and culture across socioeconomic, age and racial boundaries.
Luverne, MN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Project Food Forest installed three sculptural trellises at the Prairie Ally Outdoor Center. Home to the community's food forest, garden beds at the five-acre site feature edible and medicinal plants. To commemorate Luverne's agricultural history, artists constructed each trellis out of old farm and garden tools. Project organizers also added signs displaying the common and scientific names for plants in the forest, as well as two picnic tables. Located near downtown, the site is accessible by a popular biking and walking path. The forest is open to the public daily and the Outdoor Center offers guided tours and workshops onsite.
Tavernier, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The JOY (Just Older Youth) Center's staff saw a need to build connections and prevent loneliness. To do this, the Center added a new community garden. Engaging the expertise of a local gardener, Center staff built elevated garden beds, designed to be easier on aging knees than ground-level plots. They also purchased seedlings for the space. Today, the garden isn't just producing broccoli and collard greens. Project organizers say the garden is also a nurturing place for older adults to get together, socialize and learn new skills. And over the growing season, nearly 100 community members worked in the gardens.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Hill City, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project installed cisterns to collect rainwater at the church's community garden, increasing the number of plots and, hence, the number food distribution sites it serves. Additionally, the church held workshops on gardening and the use of fresh produce to encourage others to grow their own food.
Rapid City, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project will install ADA-compliant park benches, designed and built by students, at a farmers market and city park.
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