growing-gardens

FOOD PROJECT FARM

Walking up to the Longmont Y, one of the first things you’ll notice is a small farm nestled on the border of the property. It may seem out of place in this urban setting, but this garden is an integral part of the community. The Food Project Farm helps provide fresh fruits and vegetables to an area that is considered a food desert, a USDA-designated area where food is non-existent, unhealthy or too expensive.

When the neighborhood surrounding the YMCA in Longmont was declared a food desert, the staff at the Y decided to start applying for grants to turn the unused land on their property into a garden. The garden opened in 2010. 

farm1

However, in 2016 the YMCA partnered with Growing Gardens, a local nonprofit whose mission is to enrich the Boulder Valley community through sustainable urban agriculture by helping people to experience a direct and deep connection with plants, the land and each other. As a result of the partnership, the Food Project Farm has harvested up to 12,000 pounds of produce annually for the last several years. All of that produce was donated to local charities that help feed thousands of Longmont residents in need. 

The Food Project Farm is a driving force to unite the community in Longmont. Volunteers work on the farm to learn about organic and sustainable farming and to build a stronger sense of community. Children from YMCA Inspire Preschool and Y after-school programs learn where their food comes from and they can taste and prepare fresh healthy snacks from the farm.

farm3

Each your, thousands of individuals have benefitted from the farm, whether they received produce grown on the farm, volunteered or participated in one of the free educational program offered. Hundreds of volunteers give thousands of hours of their time to help make the farm successful and feed their community.

The farm also offers a Horticultural Therapy Program, where the participants are young people on the autism spectrum. Working in the garden and greenhouse helps them to develop life and employment skills after high school. 

HUNGER HEROES

The Johnstown YMCA, in collaboration with several community members, the United Methodist Church of Johnstown, and the Roosevelt High School Interact Club, runs the Hunger Heroes program.

This program is an initiative supporting our food insecure youth in the Weld School District RE-5J. Each week, volunteers work with the Weld County Food Bank to secure enough food to provide over 100 students with needed nutrition over the weekend.  Hunger Heroes organized and assembled bags and backpacks of food that were then delivered to each school. The Hunger Heroes has added the local fire and police departments to their partnership. Each week, staff from local stations deliver the back packs to the schools.