As 2023 begins, we’re gearing up for spring gardens across the US. But before we dive into that, let’s reflect on the impact we had this past year.
In 2022, we amped up our domestic programming here in the US. We believe all families deserve access to healthy, nutritious food, and as rising inequalities effect communities across the US, we decided to bring our focus here to the homefront.
In 2022, we got over 267,000 vegetable seed packets into the hands of community organizations across the country. That’s enough vegetable seed to produce 9,724,140 vegetable servings! From indigenous reservations, school gardens, and community gardens, these seeds not only grew nutritious food for communities in need, but offered a place of community connection and a curriculum for students and young people to develop a relationship to their food and knowledge of where it comes from.
In 2022, we got; 15,000 seed packets into the hands of agricultural-based free food distribution programs and learning centers in Buncombe, NC in the foothills of Appalachia; 2,000 packets to low-income neighborhoods in Chicago, IL; 27,000 packets to Pine Ridge Reservation, SD where residents have only one grocery store and suffer from extreme food insecurity; 23,000 packets to Conscious Alliance headquarters in Colorado for future distribution; and 200,000 seed packets to Creighton Community Foundation, a group of community leaders focused on equipping their local school district in Phoenix, AZ with resources to support community development.
As 2023, we aim to grow this project even more: fighting food deserts and growing food literacy across the country. Already, we just sent out an entire pallet of seed to Society of St. Andrews, whose mission is to bring people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors. We can’t wait to see the gardens that are grown through these seeds.
Thanks for being on this journey with us. It’s thanks to supporters like you that we are able to grow gardens to build more resilient communities.
