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Woodbridge, VA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: To create a vibrant public space at the Woodbridge Senior Center, Keep Prince William Beautiful created a vegetable garden onsite. Organizers worked to repair raised beds -- designed to be accessible for gardeners of all ages and abilities -- and fill them with vegetable plants. Additionally, they installed a seating area at the Center's front entrance. All plants grown in the space are native to Northern Virginia and include pollinator-friendly species. The Center plans to cook with vegetables from the garden and organizers hope the improvements give older adults a beautiful outdoor gathering space.
Estes Park, CO
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project made improvements to the Estes Valley Community Garden. The EVCG added six raised garden beds to make planting and harvesting comfortable for older gardeners and those with physical limitations. Project organizers also constructed a green waste storage box, which allows gardeners to toss their weeds rather than carry them home. Additionally, gardeners and visitors benefit from a new handwashing station, installed to increase safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project contributed to EVCG's ongoing efforts to donate plots and produce to a local food bank. Project organizers report the improvements attracted partners to the EVGC's new diversity initiative.
Seaford, DE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Residents lacked a shared space to grow food and connect socially, and older adults faced barriers to gardening. The project added large beds for families, a wraparound bench for gathering and braille signage to make the garden accessible. Volunteers hosted monthly classes and provided shared tools, while soaker hoses ensured easier watering for older gardeners. These changes created a welcoming space where neighbors meet and older adults garden comfortably. A blind child exploring the Veterans Garden with braille signs showed how the project fosters inclusion and intergenerational connection.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Rugby, ND
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: To help Rugby's residents access fresh produce, the Geographical Center Historical Society worked to turn an underused outdoor space into a fruit orchard. The space sits on the campus of the Prairie Village Museum, which is located in a food desert. To activate the space, Society reseeded the grass and planted fruit trees and shrubs. They also installed ADA-accessible park benches, tables and bike racks. Project organizers plan to invite students to the orchard for demonstrations on techniques for picking, washing and preserving the fruits.
Rugby, ND
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Downtown Rugby lacked a welcoming place for people to gather, so the Chamber set out to make the park more inviting with seating, art and holiday features that support walkability and community events. The team installed benches, picnic tables including an accessible table, umbrellas and new holiday props. It then activated the space with a Prairie Painted Piano scavenger hunt. Volunteers, many age 55-plus, helped prepare the area ahead of the Parade of Lights, when families used the new features. One visitor said "The additions were so fun to see... it is great to see people caring about this area and making improvements."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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