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Bowdoinham, ME
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The Town of Bowdoinham provided elevated planters to six residents who, because of disabilities, could not maintain traditional, in-the-ground gardens. Members of the local Masons Lodge constructed the raised beds and delivered soil to each recipient. To showcase the planters, the Town hosted a community meal featuring local produce, which included a presentation about the benefits of raised beds. In addition, the Town founded a garden club, which meets monthly.
Lexington, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Organizers with Seedleaf hoped to provide a more comfortable experience for the many older adults who maintain one of its free community gardens. To do this, Seedleaf provided ergonomic garden tools -- including shovels and trowels -- designed for people with arthritis to use. They also purchased portable, raised seats that gardeners can place alongside garden beds, as well as a foldable wagon to collect harvested vegetables and a shed to house the new tools. To provide a space for visitors to rest and socialize, the nonprofit worked with a local carpenter to build two sturdy, cedar benches.
Malvern, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Public or private transit access
Description: Officials with the Transportation Management Association of Chester County were concerned that signs at bus stops, as well as printed and online bus schedules, were difficult to use for older adults because of small text size or internet literacy issues. To solve this, TMACC created 15 large-print, bilingual signs and displayed them at popular bus stops. Two fixed-route bus lines serve the suburban and rural areas of northern and western Chester County, operating six days a week. This is the area's only public transportation, and many have no other way to and from work, appointments and shopping. Older adults are the system's largest ridership segment, since many do not drive and live in suburban retirement or assisted living communities. Plus, older adults can ride the bus for free.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Altadena, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: Altadena's Loma Alta Park is a destination for Los Angeles County residents. But visitors lacked a safe way to access the park on foot. To reduce speed limits and make roads safer for pedestrians, the Altadena Town Council's Safe Streets Committee installed temporary Slow Street signage at park access points that lacked walkable, bikeable or equestrian-friendly design features. They also set up a pop-up sidewalk alongside the park, offsetting it from traffic with white poles and red No Parking curb paint. The Committee then hosted a community walk and ride day that led residents on foot, on bikes and on scooters from the park to nearby nature trails. Organizers say the pop-up project raised awareness of the need for better pedestrian infrastructure and traffic calming in the area.
Arcata, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will support a community garden for a 60-unit apartment complex serving previously unhoused people to improve their nutrition and provide opportunities to socialize. It will include raised garden beds and accessible paths to accommodate residents who have limited mobility.
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