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Garden Raised Bounty (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Garden Raised Bounty installed 21 home gardens throughout Thurston County, giving the recipients access to healthy food and community connections. The organization adapted half of the gardens to meet accessibility needs and customized all of the gardens for specific recipients. Garden Raised Bounty also provided growing guides, online tutorials, seeds or starter plants, recipes and one-on-one support to ensure each garden's success. Its goal was to increase food security and provide for the mental and physical well-being of its recipients, many of whom reported the project had a positive impact on their communities and lives.
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Custer, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: 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.
Atlanta, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Using donated recycled and salvaged lumber, the Lifecycle Building Center built 14 Little Free Pantries and 10 garden beds. The Center used the fabrication work to demonstrate how the construction industry can help strengthen communities by prioritizing the reuse of materials. Mounted at chest height for easy access and placed in public areas, the pantries allow community members experiencing food insecurity to collect items as needed. Local nonprofit Friends of Refugees stocked the pantries with 1,000 pounds of food. The raised-bed planters went to the homes of refugee gardeners.
Windsor Locks, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will transform an underutilized alley into a downtown community gardening and socializing space that includes garden beds and outdoor seating.
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Toledo, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The library will replace its building's roof, preserving an important community space in Toledo's downtown, which is recovering following a series of devastating fires.
Tacoma, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Many families in Tacoma struggle to access fresh, nutritious food. To allow residents to harvest vegetables in their own neighborhoods, Food is Free planted garden plots throughout the city. Organizers installed raised garden beds in residents' front yards, in tree boxes and in the public right-of-way along the city's sidewalks. Food is Free ensured the gardens met the City's code requirements. Each garden produces about 100 pounds of produce annually. Gardeners get to keep a fifth of their harvest, with the rest offered to residents during food share events held in a local park. In addition to increasing food access, project organizers say the effort helped participants -- including older adults -- become more engaged with one another.
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