April 2021 Community Change Recipient at The Merc Co+op

Growing Food Growing Health is The Merc Co+op’s Change for our Community Program Recipient for the month of April, 2021. This program gives co-op shoppers the opportunity to donate their pocket change to local community organizations each time they shop. 

The Growing Food Growing Health Garden at West Middle School was established in 2010 and has produced over 30,000 lbs. of beautiful, sustainably grown fruits and veggies.

Our Growing Food Growing Hope garden is going into its fourth year at First Step at Lake View – a residential addiction treatment center for women and their children – where we provide food for the kitchen and a healing space for residents.

The Covid pandemic highlighted new areas of our food system we could directly influence. Our Covid pivot included creating the Full Circle Youth Garden at Edgewood Homes, and donating over 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to residents through our new Free Market program.

Our garden projects are overseen by Community Mercantile Education Foundation (CMEF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The mission of CMEF is to nourish and inspire personal well-being, strengthen community connections, and support sustainable, local food systems. We fulfill our mission by creating beautiful and productive gardens, developing youth leaders, and using food as a transformative path to health. To learn more about the gardens, visit our website.

We’ll be at the Merc Co+op sharing our story throughout April, so be sure to stop in and say hello!