Now is the time to begin Seeding the City to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to vibrant green spaces and fresh, healthy food, no matter where they live.
NYRP Board Co-Chair Helena Durst will generously match all Seeding the City gifts made by the end of June, up to a total of $150,000!
“We wanted to do a communal garden where people could steward it together and share responsibilities beyond just taking care of their own beds. Now, we can increase our seed saving project and there are gardeners who want to grow specific crops from their homeland. Coming together and rebuilding this farm and making it a place where anybody can come and enjoy is the highlight of this year.”
—Sheryll Durrant, New Roots Community Farm, South Bronx
“Our garden is an integral part of our after-school and weekend programs. We send students home with plenty of fresh vegetables, teach them how to make pickles, hot sauce, salads…we have vastly increased our production of food. We use it for educational purposes, plant workshops, relaxation between sports or classes, as a classroom and as a space for yoga or other mindfulness activities. Dozens of students have joined the program because they saw our students learning outdoors and wanted to get involved.”
—David Zheutlin, Brooklyn Youth Sports Club
“We’ve got leafy greens, radishes, kale, green beans. We’ve done potatoes. Last year someone did asparagus, which is new for us. Our garden group really works well together: we all volunteer together, we share trade secrets, we share seeds, we swap plants. Being around nature is a way to calm down from the everyday city life. It’s a kind of like a stress relief.”
—Atapon Savitz, community gardener, Eastchester Road Community Garden, The Bronx
“NYRP’s gardens have been spaces to organize everything from gardening projects and sustainability work to reading initiatives. The NYRP team has also helped us offer cooking demos and other wellness resources including healthy eating workshops and yoga… Now this year, NYRP will help us totally redesign and renovate part of our new garden space, which is pretty epic!”
—Heather Butts, H.E.A.L.T.H. for Youths and Skyline Community Garden, Staten Island
For 28 years, we have worked collaboratively with residents in communities across the five boroughs to renovate gardens, restore parks, plant trees, promote urban agriculture, and build partnerships that transform the city’s landscape.
Last year, neighborhood residents grew tens of thousands of pounds of produce in our gardens, providing fresh fruits and vegetables at no cost to more than 2,000 people, and we worked with dozens of community-based organizations to transform their open spaces to do the same.
Make a gift now to help NYRP Seed the City for the new growing season!
