The GardenWorks Project, kicked off its 12th season during Earth Week, preparing vegetable garden beds for families facing food insecurity with corporate sponsor, Duly Health and Care.  With sponsor support, GardenWorks is increasing access to fresh produce in west suburban Chicagoland by providing families with the resources to grow food in home and community gardens, and promoting donations of produce to local food access organizations. 

GardenWorks’ celebrates Earth Day every day with its commitment to promoting sustainable growing practices that steward the health of our communities and the environment, and diverting excess produce from farms, markets, and backyard gardens to food pantries. These practices reduce food waste and get healthy foods into the hands of those that need it most.

Corporate volunteer teams from business sponsors helped GardenWorks refresh garden beds, spreading soil and compost that will foster soil health and set up our gardeners for a successful growing season.  Duly Health and Care brought a volunteer team to refresh the gardens at Tioga School in Bensenville, where GardenWorks partners with Metropolitan Family Services and the Bensenville School District to ensure that families have a safe and accessible place to grow their own food.

“At Duly Health and Care, we’re committed to helping our neighbors and communities flourish,” says Duly’s Megan Lynch, manager of the Charitable Fund. “As part of our third annual Week of Service this year, Duly volunteers experienced a fun and meaningful Earth Day in partnership with The GardenWorks Project. Together, we can help ensure local families have access to healthy foods while caring for our environment.” 

GardenWorks promotes food growing as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, since it cuts down on the need to transport produce to homes. Small scale, community and individual gardens use less land than large-scale commercial farming operations. They also foster individual connections with the land and green spaces, which encourages us to take sustainable actions in other areas of our lives.

We appreciate Duly Health and Care’s commitment to its communities and are grateful for their support in making community projects like Tioga possible.    Together, we expand our reach and impact, creating more opportunities to promote sustainability, eliminate food waste and increase food access for local families.