Wcg Annual Report 2017 Web
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2017 ANNUAL REPORT Letter from the Executive Director Dear friends, 2017 was a good year to find solace in the soil. • Expanding our School Garden Program to serve Additionally, we once again had 1,292 volunteers Hurricanes, gun violence, and inequality seemed eight Title I schools in the Salt Lake City School contribute 14,436 hours of service to help maintain to be daily headlines. The feeling of helplessness District and piloting a Parent Garden Club program our gardens and support our programs. We are truly to mount effective change in the face of our to prepare and share produce from the garden humbled by the support we receive each year from overwhelming social problems made us focus on with interested parents. all of you in our community. those many bright spots of hope in our communities. • Expanding our partnership with Sorensen Unity We’ve got more big plans for 2018, including starting Putting our hands in the soil with our neighbors, Center to provide youth garden programming in a new community garden at the Gateway and old friends, and new friends helped to redirect their community garden. expanding our School Garden Program yet again. our feelings of despair to something constructive: With your continued support, we’ll continue to strive growing food and building community. There is no • Completing our second season of the Green Team to achieve our vision of an inclusive, robust, and doubt that these are two fundamental activities that Farm Project, our job training program that serves vibrant community that is nourished by healthy and are essential to life and happiness. women currently experiencing homelessness, affordable food. Remember once again that putting resulting in the majority of our participants At Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG), we are proud our hands in the soil with our neighbors, old friends, securing housing and employment. that our community’s need for the services we and new friends is a really simple and powerful way provide was met by another year of solid growth and • Building a 2,500-square-foot greenhouse on our to heal ourselves and the planet. Thank you for all new achievements for our organization. Some of our Green Team Farm to provide seedlings for our you do to help us make that a reality. highlights from 2017 were: programs, as well as the majority of the annual – Ashley Patterson starts for our Spring Plant Sale at Rowland Hall. • Starting a new community garden with Salt Lake Executive Director City at 900 S and 700 W as part of their 9-Line • Purchasing three parcels of land adjacent to our project. As with all of our new gardens in Salt flagship garden on 800 S and 600 E, the Grateful Lake City, the plots were filled to capacity within Tomato Garden. Our intention is to work with Salt “We are delighted to support Wasatch a week. The garden also serves seven refugee Lake City to rezone the properties in 2018 to be Community Gardens because its core values households through our partnership with the able to finally create an urban agriculture hub we International Rescue Committee. call CityGarden that will feature expanded garden and programming are consistent with our and educational spaces as well as house our • Starting a new community garden called the company’s mission and guiding principles, administrative offices. Garden of Wheadon with Salt Lake County at 13965 including respect for others, stewardship, S Bangerter Parkway as part of Wheadon Farm As always, our community and supporters are the Park. This garden will help to maintain the legacy reason we do this work and continue to grow and and creativity.” of Wheadon Farm by continuing to showcase food thrive. We readily admit that we’d wilt on the vine production in the increasingly urban community of without you! Our budget grew by 11% in 2017 and the — Jonathan Ruga, CEO, Sentry Financial Draper. individuals who make up our community supported that increase as well as stepped up in a huge way • Creating a pilot project with Valley Behavioral to help us to purchase the parcels adjacent to the Health to bring gardening opportunities to people Grateful Tomato Garden that will create a true WCG with mental disabilities. hub in the heart of the City. ABOUT US WHO WE SERVE Wasatch Community Gardens has served Wasatch Front residents since 1989 with the belief that the quality of a community is directly Estimated 4,000+ related to the quality of its food. Event Attendees WCG offers a spectrum of dynamic programs for youth and adults aimed at improving access to healthy, fresh food. We provide garden space School Garden 3,466 where community members can grow their Program own organic produce, as well as educational Participants workshops and community events to empower them to successfully grow, harvest, preserve, Volunteers 1,292 and prepare seasonal foods. Volunteer support is critical to all of our programs. In 2017, 1,292 volunteers contributed 14,436 hours helping with our events, office Youth Program tasks, and garden projects. 1,172 Participants “I donate to Wasatch Community Gardens because they support health in a huge Workshop 550 Participants way! Their programs help community members to eat local food grown in local gardens with healthy soil. They also Community 445 Gardeners promote spending time in the garden with friends and neighbors, which helps cultivate positive attitudes and strong, healthy communities.” — Britt Vanderhoof, Nurse and WCG donor, volunteer and community gardener Community Education Program COMMUNITY GARDEN PROGRAM WCG provides a range of classes and hands-on workshops WCG offers community members the opportunity to grow 2017 to help community members grow and eat healthy, organic their own fresh, organic produce by providing garden food. Workshop topics include seed starting, organic space, resources, and education. We manage 15 community gardening, composting, chicken keeping, and soil biology. gardens in Salt Lake County, and we provide leadership training and garden materials to independent garden Wasatch WCG also hosts a number of community events throughout projects through our Garden Leadership Network. Many the year aimed at educating Salt Lake County residents of the gardens we oversee are developed through the about gardening and living sustainably while providing the Green City Growers and Parks for Produce Programs – opportunity to build community and celebrate fresh, local partnerships with Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to Community food. Annual events include the Spring Plant Sale, Urban provide residents access to community gardens on City Garden & Farm Tour, Eat Local Week (in partnership with and County lands. Slow Food Utah and Urban Food Connections), Tomato Days Dine-Around, and Tomato Sandwich Party. 2017 ACCOMPLISHMENTS Gardens • Enabled 445 individuals and families to grow their own 2017 ACCOMPLISHMENTS fresh, organic produce in our gardens. This included • Offered 45 gardening and sustainable food workshops 89 refugee families that participated through our attended by more than 550 community members – partnership with the International Rescue Committee. PROGRAMS approximately 40% of which received a scholarship to a Fifty-seven percent of these gardeners qualify as low- paid workshop or attended a free workshop. or moderate-income per federal guidelines. • Created a pilot project with Valley Behavioral Health to • Started the 9-Line Community Garden at 900 S and 750 bring gardening opportunities to people with mental W in Salt Lake City. Thirty individuals or families had a disabilities. plot in the garden. • Handed out over 550 organic tomato and pesto • Started the Garden of Wheadon Community Garden in sandwiches to community members at our free Tomato Draper. This garden site is located on an historic farm Sandwich Party. that was set aside through a conservation easement, • Served over 4,000 people through our community and now supports a park, commercial farm, and our events. community garden. Forty individuals or families grew their own food in this garden. “I am so in love with this program! Their classes are • Supported four community garden projects through educational, well organized, friendly, interactive, our Mini-Grants Program, providing $3,617 for essential infrastructural improvements. taught by a pro, and very affordable! [WCG’s Community Education Program Director] Marybeth is amazing! Best “The best thing I grew at the garden this season was a place to learn or sharpen your gardening skills!” friendship with Dusan.” — Kerrie, Workshop participant — Jack, Community gardener, Grateful Tomato Garden PHOTO CREDITS | All photos taken by WCG staff GREEN TEAM FARM PROJECT Youth Garden Program School Garden Program Started in August 2016, the Green Team Farm Project WCG encourages youth to make healthier food choices Through a partnership with the Salt Lake City School provides employment and job training for women and become more physically active by teaching them District, WCG empowers teachers, administrators, facing homelessness while simultaneously revitalizing hands-on gardening, nutrition, and food preparation skills. students, and parents with the tools, skills, and experience an underutilized urban area. Participants learn basic The participants represent a diverse cross section of they need to successfully utilize and benefit from their organic farming techniques and other job and life skills. school gardens. In 2017, we provided weekly, garden-based Salt Lake County residents with a wide variety of ethnic Supervised by WCG’s Farm Director,