growing food together
The mission of The GardenWorks Project is to promote organic suburban agriculture to improve the well-being of our community, the environment, and those facing food insecurity. We empower, educate, and support all food growers in their efforts to nourish their families and neighbors in need.
home gardening for food insecure families
empower
With the goal of increasing the local food systems in the region to improve food security, The GardenWorks Project collaborates with food pantries, social service agencies, and community organizations to grow fresh produce for households facing hunger.
resources for all gardeners
educate
The GardenWorks Project encourages the use of organic growing methods through education, resources, and training. Educational events are taught throughout the year, and the Suburban Agricultural Resource Center, located in West Chicago, houses many of these trainings and Food Growers Network meetings.
support
We believe that local growers can make a significant impact on the quality of food provided at emergency food assistance locations with a collaborative effort. We work to encourage the donation of excess harvests to local food pantries, and the use of community gardens to nourish neighbors in need. Our volunteer-based model encourages the use of all revenues for our programs and services, and we rely on the contributions of our 200+ volunteers that donate, support, and build gardens with us every year.
Our Roots, Our Community, Our Mission
Giving Gardens to People in Need
It all started on a routine trip to the library with the kids, when I spotted the book Reclaiming Our Food, by Tanya Denckla Cobb, in the new-releases section. I grabbed it and checked it out without reading anything more than the title.
It proved to be a serendipitous find, because it changed my life.
In the last few years, I’ve found my calling career-wise in the field of landscape design. I love designing gardens and have met some incredible people since I started my business. But I wanted to do more. So when I opened this book and read the very first section, “Giving Gardens to People in Need,” I was intrigued. Building vegetable gardens for families in need would not only help those who needed it most, but would combine my love of horticulture with my husband’s interest in carpentry while providing a volunteer activity that we could do with our two young kids.
Although we live in one of the wealthiest areas in the country, there is still hunger and poverty in Chicago’s west suburbs. According to the West Suburban Community Pantry, “Over 95,000 people in DuPage County go to bed hungry every night. Of those, over 45,000 are children.” Over 45,000 are children.
Having kids of my own, this statistic floors me. It’s unbearable to think about kids going without even the most basic human need – food – in the Chicago suburbs. I firmly believe that we are all entitled to eat fresh, organic food, and knew I could make a difference.
Since food pantries often have difficulty obtaining and storing fresh produce, we knew that building gardens was a good place to start. We committed to building five 4×8’ raised bed vegetable gardens and providing the soil, plants, and support the families might need to get started. We approached the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry to ask if they would help us to identify needy individuals or families, and they were enthusiastic to help. We called the project GardenWorks.
By the end of 2012, we had built four gardens (we could not reach one of the families), emptied eighty bags of soil and compost, planted thirty vegetable seedlings, and taught seven adults and seventeen children how to grow their own food. I was able to step outside of my busy life, which I admit was focused mainly on my own family, and do some good for someone else. And that has given my life balance and satisfaction in a way that I’ve never experienced before.
In 2013, with the help of dedicated volunteers, we refreshed those four gardens with new compost and seedlings, and gave ten more gardens to people who were both food insecure and wanted to grow their own food at home. In 2014, we built 20 more gardens. We partnered with the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry, Bridge Communities, People’s Resource Center, Neighborhood Food Pantries of Warrenville, and Hossanah Lutheran Church in St. Charles to identify families who both needed food and wanted to learn to grow it at home. Our residential gardens currently serve 163 individuals, about half of whom are children. We could not have done this without the help of 75 community volunteers who dedicated their time and talents to the project.
You can be part of this caring community of people who are passionate about helping others. Become a GardenWorks Project volunteer or donor and help those in your community who need it most.
Tina Koral
Founder
The GardenWorks Project