NGB Hands Out Grants to Therapeutic Gardens
The 2015 National Garden Bureau grant program recently awarded $10,000 in grants to: The Riverwood Conservancy Enabling Garden; Cape Fear Botanical Garden; and Green Chimneys Children’s Garden.
Started in 2014, Growing for Futures is the philanthropic program of NGB that supports the building and growth of therapeutic gardens across North America furthering the mission of the organization to promote gardening to gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
The three gardens and the grant amounts are:
The Riverwood Conservancy Enabling Garden, Mississauga, Ontario.
First place vote-recipient; winner of the $5,000 grant.
The Riverwood Conservancy’s Enabling Garden is the only therapeutic garden in the Greater Toronto area helping children and adults overcome physical, cognitive and emotional difficulties. The programs build confidence, self-esteem, strength and mobility and inspire a deeper connection to nature through hands-on activities. The Enabling Garden serves an ever-increasing need in this urban area, doubling its capacity each year since opening in 2013.
Cape Fear Botanical Garden, Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Second place vote-recipient; winner of the $3,000 grant.
This therapeutic garden focuses on outreach to the area’s military population through programs that offer the opportunity to learn new skills, promote healthy living through home gardening, and encourage interaction with peers and community during the transition to a civilian lifestyle. Cape Fear Botanical Garden is interactive, inspirational and motivational, focusing on stress recovery where the basics of horticulture are introduced giving students and opportunity to explore new abilities.
Green Chimneys Children’s Garden, Brewster, New York.
Third place vote-recipient; winner of the $2,000 grant.
Green Chimneys is an internationally recognized garden offering an effective solution for healing and improving the lives of children struggling with a variety of social, emotional and behavioral challenges through nature-based therapies. The garden serves more than 210 children monthly, while also serving an additional 150 adults per month during spring and summer seasons through corporate teambuilding/volunteer exercises.
“Through the awarding of NGB’s Therapeutic Garden Grants, we hope to expand the knowledge and benefits of gardening to everyone,” says Diane Blazek, NGB’s Executive Director. “These benefits are especially important to individuals suffering with physical, mental or emotional burdens. Gardens and gardening are therapeutic in the truest sense of the word,” Blazek adds.
National Garden Bureau would like to also recognize all grant applicants as all these gardens are creating therapeutic spaces for the benefits of their program participants. NGB encourages support of these and other therapeutic gardens by the industry, local communities and individuals:
A. G. Rhodes Health & Rehab, Atlanta, GA
Abraxas High School Community Garden, Poway, CA
Campagna/Planting Possibilities Collaboration, Highland, IN
Chapters RCFE, Mission Viejo, CA
Gardens Metro, Altamont, NY
Green Connections at Grandway Adult Day Center, Winooski, VT
Kirkland Village Community Garden, Bethlehem, PA
L’Arche Farm and Gardens, Tacoma, WA
Mental Health Center of Denver, Denver, CO
Monarch School of New England, Rochester, NH
Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, Yuma, AZ
On with Life Sensory Garden, Glenwood, IA
Remember Georgia Children’s Foundation, Canton, GA
Rogers Memorial Hospital, Oconomowoc, WI
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Sinnissippi Centers, Rochelle, IL
Southern Environmental Center, Birmingham, AL
The Children’s Center, Winston Salem, NC
Tucson Botanical Garden, Tucson, AZ
Veteran Homestead, Fitchburg, MA
Wilmot Gardens at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
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