The Botanical Gardens and Gerard Place celebrated this season’s harvest with support and collaboration from the community.

Buffalo, NY—The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens and Gerard Place celebrated their ongoing partnership through their Farm Garden initiatives that provide healthy food for the East Side of Buffalo with an end-of-season harvesting day on Wednesday, August 27. To celebrate the successes of the summer, seniors from Gerard Place’s Senior Circle and Botanical Gardens staff and volunteers came together to harvest the abundant produce and celebrate the Farm Garden that has provided for the community all summer long.

Since 2019, the Botanical Gardens and Gerard Place have held a long-standing, fruitful partnership surrounding their Farm Garden initiatives. Each growing season, the Botanical Gardens’ team of horticulturists and volunteers grow, harvest and deliver hundreds of pounds of fresh produce that is donated weekly to Gerard Place, a local organization that provides a variety of food distribution and support programs for families in need in the Bailey-Delavan community in Buffalo. To date, 8,425.2 pounds of fresh produce have been donated to Gerard Place equating to over 50,000 servings of fresh produce. The produce is used in Gerard Place’s community kitchen, takeout meal programs, and cooking classes that empower and encourage individuals to experiment with the produce in new recipes and cooking techniques. This year, over 1,281.43 pounds of food have been donated already.

Gerard Place received funding support this year from the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York’s Age-Friendly Go Local project, which addresses the issue of nutrition and the livability issues of loneliness, isolation, poverty and civic engagement among older adults living in the Bailey-Delavan community. At the end of last growing season, seniors from Gerard Place were surveyed to better understand what type of produce they would like to grow or learn more about in their cooking classes. In total, 35 crops were planted, with some new vegetables that came highly requested like squash, okra, collards, and a variety of melons. Seniors enrolled in Gerard Place’s Senior Circle visited the Farm Garden on Wednesday morning at the Botanical Gardens to see the growing vegetable garden that they helped to design and interact with the volunteers and staff that helped make this initiative possible.

“Gerard Place is so appreciative of the partnership with the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. The beautiful produce that we receive from them has a huge impact on the people involved in our programs. The Seniors in our Senior Nutrition Program learn how to cook healthy meals in our culinary kitchen using the produce plus receive some of the produce weekly. We have a Food Distribution program twice a week that in addition to the hot take-out meals, we pass out the produce to over 300 people. The fourteen families that live on the Gerard Place campus also receive some of the produce and attend healthy cooking classes as well. The generosity and compassion of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens has made such a big difference in the lives of the people we serve,” said a representative from Gerard Place.

“We are overwhelmed by the success and growth that our Farm Garden partnership has made over the past several years. Each year, we are so grateful for the collaborations with Gerard Place and being able to further our mission of connecting people with plants in this really impactful way. Today’s event is the perfect example of how plants and food bring people together, and we are inspired by the joy that is shared from our garden to our community,” said Erin Grajek, President and CEO of the Botanical Gardens.

With over 30% of Buffalo’s population facing food insecurity and the rising costs of groceries, the Botanical Gardens has been able to continue expanding the efforts of the Farm Garden spaces with support from funders, foundations, and donors. What began as a small garden in 2019 has since transformed into two large garden spaces with more than twice as much produce, four dedicated staff members, four volunteers, and a more diverse and abundant selection of produce. The team has also been able to experiment with composting, irrigation systems, and crop cover to maintain high quality and efficiency. The Farm Garden was made possible in 2019 by the Josephine Goodyear Foundation, PlantWNY, private donors, and has continued to be supported by theUrban Agriculture Resilience Program, Western New York Foundation, Lawley Insurance, Linde, and the Josephine Goodyear Foundation.

About Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that welcomes all to enjoy its living plant collections, breathtaking conservatory, and educational programming. Opened in 1900, the Botanical Gardens is located within a park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Support for the organization is provided by public funds from Erie County; the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; members; donors; and friends.

About Gerard Place
Gerard Place provides support and housing for single-parent families that have experienced the pain of poverty, homelessness, and/or domestic/substance abuse. The agency also provides the community with a number of services designed to empower individuals and families through education, employment, job training and food distribution.