Giving Garden began as a backyard hobby during the 2020 pandemic, when Angela, Joshua, and other volunteers, cultivated a 500-square-foot backyard patch with tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, and cabbage. What started as a fun way to pass the time quickly transformed into the large-scale community gardening project we have today. We noticed that at-home gardening had several benefits, including addressing food insecurity, reducing food waste, and promoting environmental sustainability. By partnering with farmers and community volunteers, we decided to expand our backyard garden into a 1,420-square-foot space supported by a community movement that engaged nearly 100 families.
Now, Giving Garden organizes community service events and has generated 1,000 pounds in food donations to date. We also promote environmental education to involve more community members in gardening, and we've successfully distributed over 2,000 seedlings at community events across Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Our goal is to “grow, feed, compost, repeat,” and we actively promote environmental stewardship by responding to local food needs and fostering a sustainable cycle of food production and consumption within the community.