Houston, TX

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Vacant land in Houston offered no space for older adults to grow produce, limiting access to traditional foods and cultural connection. The association began converting the lot into a community garden with raised beds for Southeast Asian vegetables, sparking conversations about caregiving and ways to keep people age 50 and over active. Plans now include adding flower beds, and older adults are sharing crop knowledge with youth. One resident reflected on the importance of projects like this to support older adult populations and caregiving.

Hudson, NH

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Nashua has a large migrant population from Zambia, Burundi and Honduras, many of were farmers in their native counties. The ReGeerative Roots Association hoped to give them the opportunity to use their skills in their new home. The organization's ReGen Roots program, which provides free community garden plots to immigrant families. To give more families the opportunity to grow culturally familiar foods, this project expanded the garden's footprint by two acres. Participants can sell any extra produce, supplementing their household income. Additionally, community garden members donate ten percent of their peak harvest to two nonprofits that combat food insecurity in Nashua.

Potomac, MD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Older adults volunteering in HarvestShares donation garden faced physical strain from bending and lifting. At the same time, many people, including those over age 50-plus, struggled with food insecurity. The project added elevated beds, lightweight hoses, cooling fans and trellises to make gardening safer and more accessible. These upgrades boosted productivity and helped volunteers work comfortably even in extreme heat, resulting in over 1,000 pounds of fresh produce for a local pantry. One volunteer in her late 70s said elevated beds and lighter hoses made it possible for her to keep gardening weekly.