Thanks to everyone who submitted a grant application. Here are the grant winners and a brief description of their projects. Visit their Web sites and follow their progress.

Congratulations to the grantees!

Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grants

Grantee

Bethlehem Inn

Project Information

Bethlehem Inn is Central Oregon's largest emergency homeless shelter, housing and feeding families, single adults, the elderly, veterans, and pregnant women. Located in a former hotel, one of Bethlehem Inn's greatest challenges is the lack of a commercial kitchen. County requirements allow cooking in the residential-level kitchen only three days per week, which means that much of the food served to the Inn's 75 to 90 residents is brought from churches and restaurants, and tends to be heavy in starches and protein. In order to meet the need for fresh fruits and vegetables for the residents, Bethlehem Inn would like to start a community garden. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Bethlehem Inn will purchase the necessary supplies to start and maintain the garden, including a tool shed, raised beds, soil, irrigation equipment and plants.

Grantee

Boys & Girls Club, in collaboration with Maryetta School

Project Information

The Boys & Girls Club is housed in and works collaboratively with Maryetta School, a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school in Adair County, Oklahoma, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the state. Both organizations will partner in a community garden, which would provide numerous opportunities for academic growth, physical activity, responsibility, and health benefits. Sponsors, teachers, parents and students would cultivate a half-acre plot of land on the Maryetta School campus. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, the Boys & Girls Club and Maryetta School will purchase needed supplies (seeds, plants, water hoses, gardening tools and gardening tillers) and fencing materials.

Grantee

Buffalo ReUse, Inc.

Project Information

Although Buffalo ReUse, Inc. is a demolition company, they spend their free time transforming vacant lots into vibrant green spaces – such as "pocket parks" and community gardens – through their Buffalo Action for Revitalization (BAR) program. The BAR program mobilizes neighborhoods and community leaders via block clubs and city-wide volunteer recruitment. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Buffalo ReUse will purchase some of the necessary supplies to create a large vegetable garden within six vacant parcels (16,500 square feet) on their block. The garden will be segmented into three sections: the Patchwork Gardens (to be maintained by individual community members); the Children's Vinery (a series of arbors and hanging baskets used to teach children about gardening); and Edible Landscaping (to infuse form and function into the garden).

Grantee

Common Threads Farm

Project Information

Common Threads Farm is a farm-based educational non-profit organization with a depth of experience in providing seed-to-table garden-based educational programs for youth. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Common Threads Farm will develop and maintain a garden on the grounds of Lummi National School (LNS), which is on the Lummi Indian Reservation in Whatcom County, Washington. The garden designers and first growers will be the fourth and fifth grade classes at LNS, with the next targeted group for inclusion being the elders living at the Little Bear residential facility, which is near the school. With close to 100 percent of the youth enrolled at LNS eligible for free and reduced lunch, the community is eager for a community garden that will allow the children to engage in healthful habits and activities, as well as provide additional safe, positive places for them to learn and grow.

Grantee

East Park Revitalization Alliance

Project Information

The East Park Revitalization Alliance's (EPRA) Healthy Choices Youth Program offers an innovative approach to tackling the diet-related chronic health problems facing the Strawberry Mansion community. Youth in the program learn how to prepare healthy, inexpensive meals, participate in physical activity, learn to grow their own food in neighborhood gardens, and run a weekly fruit stand that offers other children access to healthy snacks. The Children's Orchard plays an important role in the Healthy Choices program. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, EPRA will expand the planted area of the Children's Orchard by adding four mature fruit trees and berry patches, create educational signage, and organize three community harvest days throughout the year. The Children's Orchard is located at the Woodford Historic Mansion in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park and resulted from a collaboration between EPRA, the Philadelphia Orchard Project, Woodford Historic Mansion and Fairmount Park.

Grantee

FOCUS Churches of Albany, Inc.

Project Information

FOCUS Churches of Albany's Gardening in a Bucket project is designed with three goals in mind: to improve nutrition for low-income residents of the FOCUS Interfaith Food Pantry service area; to empower these inner-city people to have control over their food choices and sources; and, to provide fresh, low-chemical produce to those participating in the program. Since FOCUS Interfaith Food Pantry guests typically do not have yards or plots where they can garden, Gardening in a Bucket enables them to grow their own food by providing a five-gallon bucket, soil, vegetable seedlings and seed packets, as well as gardening instructions, recipes and advice from experienced gardeners. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, FOCUS Churches of Albany will expand Gardening in a Bucket by promoting the program to 400 families and outfitting 100 with supplies, as well as hosting a mini-clinic for children on how to grow plants.

Grantee

Gladstone Education Foundation

Project Information

The Gladstone Center for Children & Families is designed to help families with multiple services in one location and to create an early childhood center for the community. With a goal of teaching youngsters (ages three through six) to be respectful of nature and good caretakers of the earth, The Gladstone Center for Children & Families would like to create a community garden. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, The Gladstone Education Foundation will develop a gardening-related curriculum and train staff, as well as purchase garden tools, educational materials and items needed to provide a comprehensive gardening experience.

Grantee

Homeless Garden Project

Project Information

Homeless Garden started in 1990 as a simple sanctuary – a safe place for homeless individuals to get away from harassment and to do something useful with their day. Today, Homeless Garden Project operates a number of programs that make their organic farm and gardens a center of community activity. The Homeless Garden Project programs and activities include 1) a job training and transitional employment program for people who are homeless, 2) educational and volunteer opportunities for the community, and 3) two enterprises – a Community Supported Agriculture program and the Women's Organic Flower Enterprise. Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant funds will help sustain the Garden in the most basic of ways – they will support the cost of water and help support the two staff members directly responsible for field supervision of trainees, volunteers, and community members attending the Project's educational programs.

Grantee

HOPE: Helping Others Pursue Enrichment

Project Information

The Community Garden of HOPE (located behind the HOPE Center building) is offered through a partnership with the Cherokee County Master Gardeners, Texas AgriLife Extension Agency, and many volunteers. These partners have planted a vegetable garden for five years, which produces food that is served in the HOPE Soup Kitchen. Food is also distributed through the Manna Pantry (emergency food assistance), included in a Brown Bag program that is delivered monthly to the elderly and disabled, and included in the Back Pack program that is distributed on weekends to nutritionally challenged children. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, HOPE will improve and increase the productivity of their garden by purchasing gardening equipment and a storage building that will allow for better access from the garden.

Grantee

Irving Park Carlson Ministries

Project Information

Irving Park Carlson Ministries' Three Brothers Garden project has three goals: to beautify the neighborhood, to build community space in which to offer organic gardening classes and cooking demonstrations featuring garden produce, and to support the community by sharing the harvest. Work on the garden has already begun: a corps of 40 volunteers has cleared the lot, built 20 cedar production beds, filled them with organic soil, and planted them. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Irving Park Carlson Ministries will complete this garden by creating the gathering space section, in which organic gardening and cooking instructions will be offered to promote positive eating and growing fresh food.

Grantee

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Project Information

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green program started City Harvest in 2006 as a way to improve nutrition and reduce hunger by growing and distributing nutritious, naturally grown vegetables to food cupboards throughout the city. The City Harvest staff works with over 200 community gardeners to build their knowledge of organic gardening practices for maximum vegetable production. As new, less experienced gardeners join City Harvest to grow and donate, there is a need to provide more education and supplies to increase production and feed more families. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society will 1) update their existing educational materials by creating a series of four signs to be distributed in 50 City Harvest gardens that will provide necessary organic gardening information, 2) hold five free educational workshops that will be open to the public, and 3) purchase organic pest prevention and control products for City Harvest gardeners.

Grantee

Rogers Park Green Space and Food Systems Coalition, in collaboration with Angelic Organics Learning Center

Project Information

After the demise of an existing urban garden, the Rogers Park Green Space and Food System Coalition was granted 6,000 square feet of green space by the Chicago Park District to develop a raised-bed, edible organic garden in Rogers Park, Chicago's most diverse neighborhood. The garden will be tended by a diverse group of community members, including refugees, university students, high school and grammar school students, and numerous neighbors. The harvest will be shared within each group, and with the community via donations to the local food pantry. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Rogers Park Green Space will purchase the necessary materials (e.g. organic soil, vegetable and herb starter plans) and tools (e.g. garden tool storage compartment) to maintain the garden and support educational initiatives.

Grantee

United Teen Equality Center (UTEC)

Project Information

Through UTEC's Fresh Roots program, youth cultivate and run a three-quarter-acre organic farm, then harvest and process the produce to create healthy meals and marketable goods to share with the community at farmers' markets, local businesses (through vegetable and flower community supported agriculture programs), or as donated snacks and meals to feed hungry and homeless teens. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, UTEC will be able to sustain this garden. The program will also foster leadership and provide on-the-job training to 25 young people annually. One hundred and twenty youth will gain volunteer work experience - feeding hungry and homeless teens 120 hot meals per month and distributing 900 afternoon snacks and 10 food kits to homeless and/or hungry teens and their families.

Grantee

Wheeler School

Project Information

In accordance with Wheeler School's commitment to service learning, they have started an organic school garden that will serve three primary functions: outdoor classroom space for hands-on learning, service learning space for their "Seed to Plate" project (to grow vegetables for distribution to those in need through the Rhode Island Community Food Bank), and community garden space for faculty, staff members and their families. With the Gardenburger™ Community Garden Grant, Wheeler School will purchase necessary supplies and equipment – fencing, raised garden beds, and a light garden for seedlings - to sustain and improve their garden.

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