We provided remote lessons with garden activity kits to more than 600 students at 13 schools each month this winter. The activities were enjoyed by leaders and students alike. In January, students were given a lesson on Seed Dispersal and then used seeds to create Pinecone Bird Feeders. Students had fun getting their hands into...
In a year of many challenges and changes, H.O.P.E. Gardens was able to continue its mission of helping other people eat, thanks to generous volunteers and donations! Read the Full Year-End Report
This year, we transitioned from having students helping in the gardens to working with only staff and a few volunteers, and found we needed extra help. In June, we hired our first youth employee, Arthur Gardine. Arthur first learned of H.O.P.E. Gardens when he was a 6th grade student at South Elementary. He helped install...
Like most organizations, H.O.P.E. Gardens had to adjust to changes brought on by Covid-19. When we learned that some schools were going fully remote and outside organizations were restricted from offering their programs in person, we had a decision to make: could we adapt to this new challenge or should we wait out the storm?...
In August, H.O.P.E. Gardens and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids were awarded a USDA Farm-to-School grant. This competitive award is granted on an annual basis to organizations that support planning, developing, and implementing farm-to-school programs. H.O.P.E. Gardens will use part of this grant to install a new fence for Wyoming Regional Center, a program...
The state-wide closing of schools last March due to COVID-19 presented us with a challenge: How could we involve students in school garden planting when we were not able to work together in person? We also wanted to support students and families while under the stay-at-home order, so we decided that if the students couldn’t...
We have had to make a lot of changes and adapt the way we offer our school programs due to COVID-19. This summer we were not able to meet in person with our summer garden programs but we provided pea seed cups, growing instructions & journals for kids to grow at home. This fall, all...
Poverty, Privilege and Pumpkin Seeds Today as I was preparing my favorite breakfast food, American fries with onions, I thought of how privileged I was to have a home and food to prepare. As I adjusted the flame on the stove my thoughts shifted to a young girl’s face and a conversation I had with...
The challenge before us…feeding the world. Quite often we are looking to the big companies to rise up to this challenge yet we are all aware of the toll it takes on our soils. With the rise in population comes a need for re-thinking the way we grow food. We see a solution and it...