GROW! awarded ICF grant

June 3, 2022

GROW!, Boundary County’s local community garden nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce it has received a $2,346 grant from Forever Idaho North Grant Program in the Idaho Community Foundation. These funds will support Boundary County’s Little Free Garden program. The goal of the national Little Free Garden project is to foster communities committed to growing, sharing and cultivating food in small gardens, placed in residential or public spaces.

The initial funding for the Boundary County Little Free Garden project came from a $2,500 grant from the community’s larger High Five! Project, sponsored by Blue Cross of Idaho’s Foundation for Health, in 2019. The idea behind this project was to provide free garden produce in small demonstration gardens while showing the public how easy it is to grow your own tasty produce.

In particular, their aim was to provide fresh produce samples to children, encouraging healthy eating and gardening projects for youth.

In its first year of operation, 26 Little Free Gardens were installed across the county. After receiving a second $2,500 grant from the High Five! Project the following year, the number of gardens was expanded to 40. With additional funding from the Idaho Community Foundation grant, they will be able to continue to expand this program to new locations that will help provide access to areas that have not been served.

As the first location in Idaho, our local community has the highest number of Little Free Gardens in the country outside of the Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota, location where the project was created. GROW! would like to see these little gardens provide fresh produce samples to all in our community through outreach in public spaces, typically near businesses that care for the gardens. They plan to expand this outreach to underserved areas in order to provide free, healthy snacks throughout our community.

Our local chapter of the national Little Free Garden project has had widespread support from local businesses that provide the location and manage these gardens. Some of the businesses have provided their own garden container and plants as well! If you know of a business that would like to participate in this program, please contact Gerry Ann Howlett at gerryannhowlett@growboundarycounty.org. More information about GROW! or Gardeners for Regional Organic Well-being, Inc., can be found on its website, growboundarycounty.org.

The Idaho Community Foundation connects Idahoans to a generous statewide network through the power of collective giving. Its grant-making, community impact work and charitable advising services have strengthened nonprofits, schools and communities in every Idaho county for more than 30 years on the belief that shared philanthropy is more powerful than giving alone. For more information, visit: www.idahocf.org.