 Catholic Charities USA leverages the resources of its member churches to provide social services and basic necessities to people who are unemployed or underemployed, hungry, isolated, or separated from their home countries. Instrumental to its success is its network of community gardens that provide a supplemental income through agriculture. Following is a description of three successful gardens operated by Catholic Charities agencies.
Anchorage, Alaska, may not seem like a horticultural center, but Fresh International Gardens (FIG) and its sister agency Grow North Farms help newly arrived refugees learn English, and teach them how to raise their own vegetables and set up small businesses. FIG includes children and older adults in its activities, helping these sometimes-neglected groups feel a part of the community. Grow North sells local produce, publishes a cookbook by refugees, and draws crowds to its Hot Food Thursday food trucks. Serving a larger city is the Garden of Hope, a food pantry that aids many Hispanic and Vietnamese residents of Orange County, California. The program has repurposed empty warehouses into a food pantry with rooms for cooking classes, and participants are also learning how to build vertical gardens for apartment buildings. Located in a rural setting outside Philadelphia, Martha’s Garden raises some 25 crops that provide Hispanic patrons with food common to their home countries. Opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, the farm was part of a reformatory for teenagers that closed after 122 years. Catholic Charities is now converting its buildings into a food pantry and senior apartments.
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