Brevard, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The project will expand a community garden for Hispanic families by adding a 50-foot-by-50-foot patch of tilled rows. Cooking, exercise, and gardening classes will augment the physical improvements.

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.

Raymond, ME

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The Raymond Village Library hoped to create an accessible community amenity to foster intergenerational relationships. So they worked to create a community garden. Volunteers installed benches, shade structures and solar lighting, as well as a graded path and waist-high planters designed to be accessible for gardeners with disabilities. To make garden upkeep easier, they also added rain barrels and a drip irrigation system.