Community Gardens

United Way recently received a USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service Grant that allowed us to establish and support community gardens throughout Anderson County. This initiative helps us to bring accessible, fresh, and nutritious food to people across the county, with an emphasis on the underserved populations. Community gardens provide access to safe, nutritious, and secure food, expand outreach to increase awareness regarding healthy eating, and put an emphasis on improving the health and well-being of Anderson County residents.

We have had a great year with our 10 USDA garden locations! Our garden at AIM was by far the biggest producer of produce as it was the largest garden. Produce that was collected included tomatoes, squash, peppers, strawberries, plums, apricots, just to name a few. This spring we added a new garden site at The Bridge Center Recovery that will provide tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, and cucumbers to the community near West Whitner Street.

Partners

The LOT Project Artisan Gardens

AIM

Anderson Free Clinic

DCEC

South Main Chapel & Mercy Center

The Bridge Center

Cancer Association of Anderson

Renaissance Academy

White Street

Safe Harbor

Community Garden Hub

Anderson County has many community gardens in the community including the gardens that are in the United Way’s USDA Garden Grant. In 2023, the United Way of Anderson County convened representatives from all of our community gardens to form the Community Garden Hub. The Hub was created so that those working the gardens could have access to the resources and knowledge of other gardeners in the area to help problem solve when issues arise and celebrate the success of each of our gardens.