Paducah, KY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Organizers with the Paducah McCracken County Senior Center wanted a community garden for low-income residents. The center addressed this need by building a garden with ADA-compliant pathways, ramps and garden beds. The new space provides older adults in the community with fresh produce, opportunities for socializing with friends and neighbors and non-strenuous physical activity.

Germantown, MD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will support a community garden's operations with workshops on harvesting produce and winterization, as well as community events to tend the space. The garden provides an accessible space for residents to grow fresh fruits and vegetables and address local food insecurity.

Anderson, SC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: To expose locals to art and grow food for people in need, Anderson Arts Center beautified its campus by creating a new mural and community garden. The first mural in Anderson, it depicts a rabbit alongside a colorful fruit and vegetables. Since its completion, it has inspired other local organizations to create their own murals around town. Project organizers say within the garden's first year, the Center taught nearly 500 children about growing fresh vegetables. The Arts Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, hosts gallery exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists, orchestrates downtown public arts projects and is home to a summer arts camp and arts school for children and adults.