Gardens For Good

Applications for our 2023 Gardens for Good Program are Now Closed. Public Voting is Open June 12 – 25.

At Nature’s Path, we believe in the power of community gardens to alleviate food security and create a positive social impact on the communities in which they are grown. Since 2010, our Gardens for Good program has donated over $615,000 to 74 community gardens supporting the organic movement and investing in a flourishing future for their families and neighbors.

With food insecurity on the rise across North America and research indicating community gardens can lower household food security concerns by up to 90%, Nature’s Path is increasing donation efforts from previous years, awarding each community garden winner $7,500 for more impactful outcomes for the gardeners.

How to Support:

Once all applications are received, you can learn more about the community gardens and vote for the applicant of your choice, strengthening their chances of winning $7,500 in grant money.

By voting, you are putting money directly into the hands of deserving, organic gardeners, lowering household food security concerns and empowering positive community growth.

Winner Selection Process:

Every year we receive so many deserving garden applications, so how do we choose the final 15 winners? To select the winners, we consider both the number of votes your garden receives (during the voting phase) and conduct an internal evaluation of your application based on our 3 criteria (outlined in the rules & regulations).

View rules & regulations

PAST RECIPIENTS

Over the years we’ve awarded grants to over 74 gardens across North America. Here are just a few examples of our previous winners and their inspiring garden projects.

2022

2021

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2022

Bowman Elementary’s Urban Garden Program – Anchorage, AK
Chelsea Urban Farm – Chelsea, MA
Cultivating Change at 509 Hanson! – Whitehorse, YU
Deep Roots – Earleville, MD
Downtown Eastside Urban Farm – Vancouver, BC
Green Acre Community Garden – Paterson, NJ
Healthy for Life Garden Program – Rapid City, SD
Indigenous Roots Forever – Pawcatuck, CT
Jardin communautaire de Shippagan – Shippagan, NB
Maple Alley Inn Community Garden – Bellingham, WA
Michigan Urban Farming Initiative – Detroit, MI
New Start Community Garden – Burien, WA
Pitney Meadows Community Gardens – Saratoga Springs, NY
Project Sweetie Pie – Minneapolis, MN
The Everybody Eats Together Garden – Atlanta, GA
The Grove Garden Project – St. Louis, MO
Tsi’thotuhutsya:te (The Creators Land) – Oneida Nation of the Thames, ON
Variety Garden and Greenhouse – Worcester, PA
VEG (Valleycliffe Edible Garden) and Beyond – Squamish, BC
West Broad Street YMCA Garden – Savannah, GA
West Island Mission – Food Bank – Pointe-Claire, QC
YES Prep Public Schools – North Forest Elementary – Houston, TX

2021

AfriThrive Garden – Silver Spring, MD
Alief Community Garden – Houston, TX
Arcata Community Health and Wellness Garden – Arcata, CA
Arma Community Garden – Arma, KS
Ashamaawaso (s/he feeds a child) – London, ON
Black Urban Farmers Association – French Camp, CA
Cheyenne River Youth Project Winyan Toka Win Garden – Eagle Butte, SD
Cowichan Green Community’s The Inclusion Garden – Duncan, BC
Food Strong Learning Garden – East Cleveland, OH
Galiano School Garden – Galiano Island, BC
Gardeneers Piccolo School Garden – Chicago, IL
Harris Health System’s LBJ Hospital Community Farm – Houston, TX
Jubilee Community Garden Society – Duncan, BC
Manna Meal Community Garden – Charleston, WV
Mohawk Seedkeepers – Ohsweken, ON
Odyssey Charter School Garden – Wilmington, DE
Painted Turtle Farm – Gettysburg, PA
South Los Angeles Community Farm – Los Angeles, CA
The Ben Jones Community Garden at The HUUB – Orange, NJ
The Gathering Place Garden – St. John’s, NL
The Healing Garden at Ferry Lane Farm – Simsbury, CT
Trellis for Tomorrow – Phoenixville, PA

2019

The YAM Project – in Sudbury, Ontario
Growing Roots – in Pomona, California
Garden Joy – in Ripon, California

Austin Discovery School

Austin Discovery School is an academically rigorous public charter school dedicated to building compassion, collaboration and critical thinking by engaging students with the natural world. In their EcoWellness Program, children learn environmental stewardship, gardening skills, science, and how to care for creatures we share this land with. The program includes dedicated staff, gardens and tended farm animals.

The Giving Teaching Garden

St Louisville, KY (at Shawnee People’s Garden, supported by Louisville Grows)

Shawnee People’s Garden was once an empty city lot in the middle of an urban food desert. But then citizens and local non-profit, Louisville Grows, transformed it to an oasis of organic greens. Among its gardeners was BJ Jones, who distributed his crops to folks in need. With Gardens for Good, Jones’ donations have grown and its founders now instruct others how to garden and how to create community gardens in other Louisville food deserts.

Occupy Madison Village Gardens

Madison, Wisconsin

In response to mass homelessness and food insecurity, Occupy Madison set out to provide shelter for those in need. Building 99 square foot houses resulted in the first tiny homes village integrated within a U.S. neighborhood, and it’s still going strong. Within the village, the project grows its own food to sustain and connect the community.

St. Mary’s Foundation for Children

Bayside, New York

As New York’s first children’s hospital, St. Mary’s Foundation for Children aims to brighten up the days of its nearly 2,000 patients. Providing long-term health, the hospital teaches its children about gardening and healthy eating. With the help of Good for Gardens, the hospital aims to collaborate with more local schools and youth-based groups. Together they take part in urban farming on a dedicated one-acre plot of land.

The Growing Chefs! Classroom Gardening Program

Vancouver, B.C.

The Growing Chefs! Program allows children to learn about the origins of food and the benefits of eating well, in a fun way. With volunteer chefs at hand, young students learn everything from planting seeds, growing, and harvesting, to cooking a meal with them. It has been running for more than a decade with schools across British Columbia clamoring to join. The program hopes to include more schools to teach the value of eating sustainably.

Tri-Isle Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc.

Kahului, Hawaii (Hāli’imaile Community Garden)

The Goodwill Garden is dedicated to building food sustainability in a place where one out of seven people go hungry. The gardening space is in Kahului, Hawaii as part of a larger project whose goal is to provide access to fresh produce. The vegetables grown are donated weekly to food banks, which results in several hundred pounds of produce each month. The project serves all Maui, where 18,600 residents seek help from food banks.

The Table Community Garden

Perth, Ontario

Since 2012, the Table Community Garden has been the second affiliate Community Food Centre, offering access to healthy foods. Its nickname the Good Food Bank is what separates it from others. The project offers a variety of fresh products to support healthy and fresh food choices that often come from its own garden. Aside from providing free produce, the project also runs cooking and gardening lessons.

Oliver’s Food Project

Hamilton, Ontario

Oliver’s Food Project sprouted from curiosity when two siblings saw children rummaging through the recycling. The siblings Oliver and Piper’s mother explained the children were doing so to get money for food. This idea did not sit well with Oliver, who then created the garden project in Hamilton, Ontario. The family began selling their vegetables, where 100 per cent of sales went straight to local youth charities. The project has since expanded across five more gardens within their neighborhood.

Sole Food Street Farms

Vancouver, B.C.

Sole Food Street Farm is the brain child from a group of residents in one of North America’s worst urban slums. To help address the problems in their neighborhood, a group of residents created an urban farm, from a vacant contaminated plot of land. The project’s mission is to empower those with limited resources, giving jobs and agricultural training for those managing addiction and, chronic and mental health issues.