St. George, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: On remote St. George Island, access to food is challenging. Grocery shipments arrive by plane, which are sometimes grounded due to inclement weather. This makes food insecurity a concern, especially among lower-income residents. Organizers with Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association hoped to help the community grow its own produce. They renovated a rundown greenhouse, adding a new door, equipment and raised garden beds. Local children contributed by creating a wooden sign for the space. Additionally, project organizers installed seating, creating a community gathering space. Organizers plan to continue to upgrade the greenhouse, which provides vegetables for congregate meals for community elders.

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.

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.