ACS Community LIFT was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the Colorado Garden Foundation to help further ACS’ efforts at building a horticulture program offering food pantry customers the freshest produce possible.
ACS LIFT has already begun preparing all available land around the Center for planting. There will be container planters, a full garden in shared space with neighbors, local plots in one of the Denver Urban Garden spots, and a garden plot at the LifeSource Adventist Church’s community garden. Trees are already being trimmed and land is being cultivated.
One of the plans to help maintain these gardens is to invite volunteers and staff to work side-by-side with clients to teach them the gardening process and show how easy it is to grow food at their own homes. Marilynn Banks, an Americorps volunteer to ACS LIFT, is a master gardener who has taken on the challenge of helping to build the program into something sustainable for years to come.
One of the hardest and most expensive types of food to secure for customers is the fresh produce that this garden will help supply. If you are interested in supporting the project or in getting your gloves on and digging in the soil along with ACS LIFT, please contact ACS at 303.935.389.
This article was also published in the June 2015 print edition of OUTLOOK. It was written by Donna Webb, who works with ACS LIFT in Denver, Colorado.
