The community garden at Americana Community Center is now in its third year of operation.  Last year it succeeded in providing produce to supplement the diets of over twenty families, coming Bosnia, Congo, Guatemala, Burma, and the United States. 

Many gardeners came from areas where subsistence gardening was a way of life.  Green space had to be sacrificed in their move to urban areas, but now Americana can offer the option of gardening on our grounds.  The community garden is an asset to the community as a neighborhood gathering area, a resource for obtaining food, and an outdoor education facility. 

This year, the garden has increased the space available to each gardener and even provides an area exclusively for school-aged gardeners. The goal is to enhance each gardener’s experience while beautifying an important and highly used community green space.

Ways the community garden enhances the community:

• Inexpensive source of high quality produce for low income residents
• Better for the environment
• Eases stress of acculturation for immigrants and refugees
• Improves cross-cultural communication
• Improves mental and physical well being
• Gives individuals a sense of ‘purpose’
• Provides a constructive activity for whole families to engage in
• Reduces the incidence of hunger in the community