Community Garden Project Invitation

​I invite you to consider a fantastic, COVID-safe, and urgent service that you, your neighbors, your community or faith group can do to help end hunger. If you want to learn more, contact volunteers@svdpomaha.com
Communities with robust, sustainable, local sources of food are much more able to withstand unpredictable disruptions in food supplies caused by weather, health, or economic crises.  In part that requires a reliable process for delivering available supplies to people who need them. In part it requires new local sources of food.
To promote easier access and a more reliable source of local food supplies, especially fresh produce across diverse cultural requirements, a group of nonprofits comprised of Big Garden, Whispering Roots, Together, Catholic Charities, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, is establishing a partnership to develop a delivery process as well as to increase the number of community gardens throughout the Omaha metro. 
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We are asking YOU to locate, build, plant, manage and harvest community gardens within your neighborhood. We will help you all along the way.
These gardens will provide fresh vegetables and fruit, principally to food-insecure people in their neighborhoods and then to local food pantries or larger regional pantries. Individual gardeners will be able to harvest some of what they plant for themselves, but the primary goal for each garden is to provide access to local, robust, sustainable, culturally appropriate fresh produce for people in need in Omaha. 
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The Big Garden(TBG), has a long history of working with faith communities to address hunger and build community through gardening. Since 2005 TBG has partnered with over 150 organizations to develop community gardens on their property. The process begins with members of the congregation reaching out to TBG staff with an interest in community gardens and filling out an initial application. TBG staff will schedule a time to meet with potential gardeners and conduct an evaluation of the site. At this meeting questions about access to land, reliable sources of water, the size of the garden and who will help maintain it are discussed. 
TBG asks that each group designate a site coordinator for the garden who will serve as a contact person and who will also help recruit and coordinate a garden committee. TBG can provide information on best practices for coordinating community gardens as a part of the planning process.
Once applications are approved TBG staff will provide supplies, materials and seedlings for the new garden at no cost to your group. TBG staff will work with volunteers from each group to construct the garden and will provide ongoing technical support for the gardeners throughout the growing season again at no cost. In addition, TBG can, upon request, provide a group of volunteers to help when necessary such as for large mulching, weeding, or harvesting projects.  

Whispering Roots’ mission is to grow, feed and educate. For this project, Whispering Roots will provide mentorship in nutrition and fresh food preparation and storage. More, Whispering Roots will help create food delivery processes in conjunction with the new gardens by using their model of home delivery to provide culturally appropriate food from each garden to those who need it. 
Whispering Roots asks that each group include contact information for any volunteer drivers who are interested in being “on call” to make deliveries. Though the bulk of deliveries at this time could be shouldered solely by Whispering Roots with Together drivers, collaboration with and outreach to the community is key, and volunteer drivers will be one method of achieving that. Whispering Roots will contact, schedule, and provide guidance to the on-call drivers as needed. A Best Practices document for safe delivery will be provided to each group.

Together believes food is a human right and every person should have access to culturally appropriate and nutrient-dense foods.  Housing is also a human right, every person should have access to fair, safe and affordable housing. For the home delivery program, Together will provide drivers and a vehicle to deliver food to the doorstep of those unable to access a traditional pantry. Together will also provide meat, seasonal produce, culturally appropriate food items, and additional items as they become available. 
 
Catholic Charities will supplement the garden produce by providing two weeks of supplemental food, hygiene products, personal protective equipment, and diapers for families.  Additional food support will be offered to families in need of ongoing food support.   
 
The Society of St Vincent de Paul will help coordinate the new garden projects plus help recruit and train volunteers throughout the growing season. We hope you’ll join! For more information contact volunteers@svdpomaha.com.