Billings, MT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will expand a community garden by adding four raised beds, allowing gardeners of all ages to grow a wider variety of produce. The garden will donate its harvest to local food pantries.

Anchorage, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Many Anchorage residents who visit the city's food pantries have traditionally lacked access to fresh produce. The St. Francis House Food Pantry, run by Catholic Social Services, serves more than 10,000 people every year, distributing more than 700,000 pounds of food. To offer more fresh vegetables, CSS transformed an underused courtyard on the St. Francis House property into a community garden with 15 raised beds. Volunteers also created a mural depicting Alaska wildlife to decorate the area used for drive-through food pickup. Older adult volunteers manage the garden, which gives food pantry clients and CSS staff a space to share ideas and culture across socioeconomic, age and racial boundaries.

Windsor Locks, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will transform an underutilized alley into a downtown community gardening and socializing space that includes garden beds and outdoor seating.