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SourcePoint (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
To give older adult residents of an affordable housing complex a space to gather, SourcePoint and Age-Friendly Delaware County created an accessible community garden. Volunteers installed raised beds to enable gardeners to work without needing to kneel down. Additionally, they laid an ADA-complaint crushed gravel path, added accessible benches and erected an aluminum fence around the space. Today, St. Michael's Community Garden hosts programming for gardeners and non-gardeners alike, including healthy cooking classes. Project organizers say the garden has helped combat social isolation, and senior housing residents now grow produce in their own backyard, which helps reduce their grocery bills.
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See More Projects Like This One
Montclair, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Montclair Community Garden has long been used by community members as a central gathering place, despite a lack of older adult-friendly amenities. The Montclair Community Foundation installed three raised garden beds, specifically designed for people with mobility restrictions, those who cannot easily bend down and gardeners who use wheelchairs. Additionally, the foundation installed an ADA-compliant picnic table, an 18-by-27-foot shade structure and new LED lighting. These changes enable residents of all ages and abilities to enjoy the garden. Now that the improvements are complete, project organizers say they are piloting a health education program at the garden, which will welcome patients whose doctors have recommended they spend time outdoors.
Montclair, NJ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: A local Boy Scout troop will work alongside older residents to create a vegetable garden featuring raised beds and an accessible pathway. The township will share produce from the garden with a local food pantry.
Macon, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will expand a community garden in a park, adding raised beds for growing healthy food. The initiative will also improve park aesthetics with new benches, trees, flowers and a mural, creating a space for residents to play checkers, chess and card games.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Delaware, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The City of Dallas upgraded Unity Park, adding fitness equipment and ADA-compliant benches. To make the space more appealing, the City also upgraded the park's lighting and landscaping.
Galena, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Supporting family caregivers
Description: The project will support older adults and family caregivers with enhanced digital and in-person programs to alleviate isolation.
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