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Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
As part of efforts to transform a vacant lot into a community garden, Greenville's Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church installed a new fence and hoop houses at the site. The hoop houses cover the beds and keep them warm, allowing gardeners to grow produce through the winter months. In addition, the church installed a sign to inform passersby about the Third and Spruce Community Garden. Since these improvements, project organizers made an agreement with a local food pantry to provide fresh produce to individuals and families facing food insecurity. During the 2021-2022 growing season, the garden produced about 900 pounds of fruits and vegetables. The Church also plans to hold gardening skills workshops and healthy food demonstrations for the community.
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New Orleans, LA
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Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project created a community garden with twenty raised-bed garden boxes. Dillard University Community Relations also held six healthy-cooking demonstrations and four health fairs.
Columbia, SC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will provide a space for youth and adult gardeners to learn sustainable practices in growing and preserving food together. Monthly activities will include virtual meetings and on-site opportunities.
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.
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