Cultivating school gardens to feed families in need across the Atlanta Metropolitan Area
The goal of Project Giving Gardens is to provide families facing food insecurity with fresh produce by cultivating school gardens that are unused during summer school closures.
Project Giving Gardens was established in 2020 by the Captain Planet Foundation, in partnership with Food Well Alliance, to leverage school gardens abandoned during COVID school closures to grow fresh produce for families across metro-Atlanta hit hardest by food insecurity.
In 2021, a pilot version of the program expanded to the San Francisco Bay & Oakland areas communities in partnership with Edible Schoolyard and Conscious Kitchen.
Across the summers of 2020 and 2021, PGG collaborated with 32 community partners and contracted with 52 urban growers who grew and harvested more than 120,000 lbs of organic produce grown in 180+ under-utilized school gardens. That food [which equated approximately 500,000 servings] was distributed to food banks and pantries across the two metro areas who provided it to more than 30,000 families.
In 2022 and going forward, we are designing a plan to make PGG a regular summer program across metro-Atlanta to better leverage the summer growing season of our 350+ school gardens across our home metropolitan area.
Get Involved
If your school is interested in participating in the Project Giving Gardens program, the sign up will begin in February 2022! By participating in this program, your school will receive:
- A branded metal sign in your garden stating “This school garden is feeding families!”
- Your garden will be listed on the Captain Planet Foundation websites with a map of all participating schools and harvest counter.
- Your school will be featured in news stories and publications about the Project Giving Garden program.
- Free irrigation installed in your garden with a smart timer.
- Free hand washing station installed in your garden.
- Free Summer Garden Maintenance from May – August 2022.
- Free seeds and starter plants for you to plant with your students in the fall of 2022.
Support for Project Giving Gardens
Sponsors
Partners
