Manchester, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will transform five parking spaces into a community garden for six months each year. Three new raised garden beds will allow gardeners to grow fruit and vegetables for a food pantry and soup kitchen.

Salt Lake City, UT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Salt Lake City's Taylorsville neighborhood is home to refugee families from Syria, Myanmar and Afghanistan. Many new residents, however, struggle with social isolation. To help people feel connected, Salt Lake County created a community garden at the local senior center. Volunteers built four raised beds and the County provided ergonomic gardening equipment, seeds and starter plants. Project organizers say the opportunity to garden gives older adults -- who were often farmers and ranchers in their native countries -- a renewed sense of purpose. Gardening also allows them to form relationships with their neighbors.

Jackson, KY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will turn a flooded green space into a community gardens with raised beds, buckets and an accessible bench. Local senior centers will be invited to use the raised beds for educational classes and outings and produce grown in the garden will be distributed to the community.