As we mark the end of another gardening season, many of us are pausing to give thanks and celebrate seasonal bounty.
As a community gardener, I am grateful for the continued generosity of the landowner of my garden, my garden leader who shares so much of her time to keep the garden running, and my fellow gardeners who help keep it maintained through the season. And I’m grateful that the Community Garden Coalition organization has backed my garden with supplies, insurance, water, compost, straw and other support.
As a longtime CGC board member, I want to express my thanks more broadly to my fellow board members and all the community garden leaders and gardeners out there working to keep these community spaces vibrant and productive. And, of course, I’m thankful to all our supporters out there who have donated money, time or other resources!
This was our 40th year as an organization! We thank you for being a part of that, and we hope you’re planning for a great garden next year.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Community Garden Coalition, and we are off to a great start due to some very successful year-end fundraising!
We exceeded our goal of $6,000 through CoMoGives and received corporate gifts from two local Walmarts totalling $2,750 along with a $500 gift from UScellular. But the most surprising donation happened in early December when we were contacted by Jim Robertson, the chair of the Reality House Programs board of directors.
Reality House operated as a local, non-profit for 50 years offering a community-based alternative to incarceration. Unfortunately it lost the state funding it relied on two years ago and had to shut down. As a last gift to the Columbia community the board of directors decided the best way to disburse their remaining funds was to donate to three local, non-profits that they felt had supported their clientele over the years. The Community Garden Coalition was one of the lucky recipients, and we were given a $10,000 donation!!
Needless to say, we can help a lot of people with such a generous gift! While we are grateful for everyone’s support, we want to especially thank the Reality House Programs board of directors:
We are thrilled to report that the Coalition has received over $6,000 in donations this year through our CoMoGives campaign!!! We also received some other donations in December, and we’re so grateful to all our donors!
These gifts mean A LOT to our small, all-volunteer organization! We are so happy to have community support and enthusiasm for our mission as we move into our 40th year as an organization! (That’s right, the CGC got its start in 1983!)
Of course, if you meant to donate and missed the CoMoGives deadline, please know that you can donate anytime via our PayPal donations portal.
We wish all of our gardeners, volunteers and supporters a Happy New Year. We hope you can spend this winter planning your best garden ever!
We have reached the final few days of the CoMoGives local giving campaign, a truly inspired homegrown effort to support all kinds of nonprofit groups in Mid-Missouri. If you have the means to donate this year, we hope you’ll hop over to the CoMoGives site and give a gift to the Community Garden Coalition or another charity that’s close to your heart.
We’re thrilled with the support we’ve seen so far for community gardening as we get ready for our fortieth year! (That’s right, the CGC has been around since 1983!) We’re 2/3 of the way to our goal of raising $6,000 through CoMoGives this year.
As a supporter, you know we’re an all-volunteer group, run by a very small board and a hard-working set of garden leaders. In 2022, we supported over a dozen gardens used by hundreds of gardeners. When we asked our gardeners to tell us what community gardening means to them this year, we heard some inspiring words indeed!
The Garden Coalition depends on the continued generosity of supporters like you to continue serving these gardens. If you have already given, thank you! If you have not given and have the means, please consider a gift through CoMoGives by midnight this Saturday, December 31.
Unite4Health garden bed rehabilitation makes room for more gardeners!
As we look forward and prepare for another season of community gardens, we’re looking back at what was accomplished this year. Thanks to the efforts of one of our garden leaders at Unite4Health garden, Cheryl Jensen, there will be additional garden spots available next spring!
Before and after bed rehabilitation at Unite4Health garden in November, 2022
Cheryl’s tireless efforts, along with the help of Anne Jacobson, have really turned that garden into a little paradise for their gardeners! Cheryl had help from our favorite CCUA employee (and our newest board member) Mallary Lieber, and yours truly’s husband, Matt Knowlton, who loaded and delivered some primo compost for these beds. Then, visiting volunteers from AmeriCorps met with Cheryl to do the rehab!
Cheryl with some of her fall cropsLeft, Mallary loading compost stored for us by CCUA; right, Matt unloading compost at U4HThe AmeriCorps crew, consisting of young volunteers from all over the U.S.
Another example of the lovely synergy that exists within our community and beyond!
As we wrap up our 39th year, the Community Garden Coalition is participating in the CoMoGives local giving campaign! Please consider a making a donation to support next year’s gardens through CoMoGives! You can also give directly through PayPalor snail mail at P.O. Box 7051, Columbia, MO, 65205.
Wow! We are so grateful for all the support received on Giving Tuesday through CoMoGives!!! With over $1,800 received in the first day of our campaign, we’re so happy to have the support of our community as we get ready to celebrate our 40th anniversary in 2023!
Thank you so much to those who’ve given! We will put your gifts to good use supporting Columbia’s community gardeners.
It’s that time of year again when we ask you to consider making a donation to support the Community Garden Coalition via the CoMoGives local giving campaign.
This was a great year for our group. We’ve expanded our services with more raised beds and equipment for disabled and elderly gardeners, while increasing the number of neighborhood gardens (check out Britt/Hall at Fire Station #8). But here’s the really big news — we’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2023!
We may be one of the smallest all-volunteer, nonprofits in this area but we are mighty. What started in 1983 as a way to help some low-income residents produce their own healthy food has grown into a community-wide pursuit with hundreds of people from all walks of life participating. Obviously, we couldn’t have done this on our own — over the years we’ve had financial help from the City of Columbia, the United Way, the Community Foundation of Central Missouri, Walmart and Sam’s Club to name a few of the larger organizations. We’ve also relied on donations of land use, time, materials and money from thousands of generous individuals over the years.
Today, on Giving Tuesday, we’re counting on your support once again! It’s easy to give to CGC and all your favorite local nonprofits at www.comogives.com now through December 31.
Why should you donate?
Over half of local community gardeners are at or below the federal poverty level and the gardens are a significant source of healthy food for their families.
Community gardens not only improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables but, increase physical activity and reduce stress.
Community gardens fill vacant lots with neighbors who work together, creating social ties that build a greater feeling of community and safety
Community gardens improve the air and soil, increase biodiversity and reduce stormwater runoff and the carbon footprint of our gardeners.
All donations to the CGC go 100% to member gardens because we’re an all-volunteer nonprofit.
Cambridge Place gardeners with their first watermelon of the yearUnite4Health gardeners with this year’s peach cropSweet potato pies made from Friendship Garden produce
So please consider giving to our organization during CoMoGives. Any amount will help and small donations are our bread and butter!
In 2022, the Community Garden Coalition was pleased to help gardens across the city with many improvements. We were able to build and fill raised beds for gardeners with disabilities, a picnic table and purchase top quality compost for various member gardens. We’ve also covered the cost of water during this year’s drought and helped gardens add native plants to their sites. As the year winds down, we are preparing to install a new, larger shed at our Claudell Garden property, and helping to get old garden beds rehabbed and renewed at the Unite4Health garden and at a new member garden at fire station no. 8 on Nifong Blvd.
Throughout the coming weeks, we’ll share photos from the gardens and some of what community gardeners say their garden means to them. It’s been a bountiful harvest!
Thank you for your interest and support of community gardening!
Many thanks to everyone that helped with the cool season plant distribution on April 2!
First, board member Sarah Kendrick put together an online order form and sent it out via garden leaders. After gardeners submitted their orders, Sarah tabulated all the orders and our treasurer Bill McKelvey placed our order at Strawberry Hills Nursery. Bill also rented a van and delivered the plants to our Claudell garden that Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, our vice president Jenny McDonald and her partner Cory McCarter took charge of the row cover and hoops ordered by gardeners. While everyone else was out celebrating the start of the weekend, these two spent Friday night cutting row cover, counting hoops and labeling everything to make the distribution much easier. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the row cover elves had visited our porch during the night. That was quite a relief because it was so windy that morning cutting row cover would have been extremely difficult!
Next up on Saturday morning was another great group of volunteers. Barb Onofrio, Julie Walker, Ann and Dan Bene, Felicia and Jahmari Sewell, Mallary Lieber, Cheryl Jensen, myself and Matthew Knowlton organized the plants for each garden so that garden leaders (like Dee Campbell-Carter) could easily pick up what their gardeners had ordered and deliver them to their garden.
The Community Garden Coalition and our friends continue to do so much for so many others! Thank you for your continued support!!
Wow! We are so grateful for all the support received today through CoMoGives!!! With over $2800 received in the first day or our campaign, we’re already more than halfway to our goal!!
Thank you so much to those who gave today! We will put your gifts to good use in our community!
As we mark the end of another gardening season, many of us are pausing to give thanks and celebrate seasonal bounty.
As a longtime CGC board member, I want to express my thanks more broadly to my fellow board members and all the community garden leaders and gardeners out there working to keep these community spaces vibrant and productive. And, of course, I’m thankful to all our supporters out there who have donated money, time or other resources!
Community Garden Coalition 