This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
[Boulder Valley, Colo.] – Longmont’s Food Project Farm, a partnership between Growing Gardens and the YMCA of Boulder Valley, served 8,029 low-income residents with 10,279 pounds of fresh produce, as well as plant starts, seeds and nutrition education in 2017, a vast increase from previous years.
“The fresh vegetables that are donated from Growing Gardens and the Longmont YMCA allow the OUR Center to provide the highest level of nutrition, in our Community Market and the Café, to people in Longmont who are at risk of hunger and who need the sustenance to move forward in their lives,” said Edwina Salazar, Executive Director of OUR Center.
The farm has also grown a sense of community and fostered a partnership between local nonprofits. The YMCA of Boulder Valley and Growing Gardens partnered on the Food Project Farm in 2016 — providing agriculture outreach to local kids and harvesting produce that is donated to the OUR Center and other entities. Everything grown in the farm is donated to local families and charities that provide meals for those in need.
The Ed & Ruth Lehman YMCA created the farm in 2010 after the staff learned the area surrounding the facility was considered a food desert, an area where fresh, healthy food is non-existent, unaffordable or inaccessible particularly to low-income communities. Before the Y and Growing Gardens partnered, the Food Project Farm’s best season resulted in around 4,000 pounds of food. The 2016 season produced 7,975 pounds of food for donation thanks to the new partnership. The latest season was the most fertile yet, with an extraordinary 10,297 pounds of produce grown and donated. None of this would have been possible without the 240 volunteers who spent 1,688 hours on the farm.
”Every year we are able to feed more people in need — our neighbors in need,” explains Jessica Collins, Executive Director of the Longmont Y. “Thanks to our partnership with Growing Gardens, our impact has doubled.”
About Growing Gardens
Growing Gardens is a Boulder-based nonprofit organization established in 1998. Growing Gardens mission is to enrich the lives of our community through sustainable urban agriculture. Growing Gardens envisions people experiencing a direct and deep connection with plants, the land and each other. Through its many gardening-based programs, Growing Gardens strives to reach gardeners and would-be gardeners of all ages to work alongside the organization and build community through urban agriculture. To learn more about Growing Gardens or to donate, please visit: www.GrowingGardens.org.
About the YMCA of Boulder Valley
More than 50,000 youth, families and adults from all walks of life are served annually by the YMCA of Boulder Valley, positively impacting the communities of Boulder, Broomfield, Erie, Jamestown, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Nederland, Niwot and Superior. We have three facilities that help us serve such active and enthusiastic communities, including the Mapleton Y in Boulder, Ed & Ruth Lehman YMCA in Longmont and the Arapahoe Y in Lafayette. Learn more at ymcabv.org.
This is a press release issued by the YMCA of Boulder Valley and is published by the Longmont Observer as a public service.
