Non-profit Gardeneers helping Chicago schools teach kids to grow their own food
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A local non-profit is working to bring fresh produce to schools and communities by growing gardens in food deserts.
What was once an old, empty rail yard in the Homan Square neighborhood is now home to the Gardeneers.
"We're a green space and a food space," CEO Selma Sims said.
This non-profit has been helping schools go green, setting up customized school gardens, and sending in dedicated staff for maintenance.
"On an average year, we grow about 2,000 pounds of food," said director of partnerships Paris Monaghan. "We're at schools one, two, to three times a week."
The Gardeneers have more than 21 school partners across the South and West sides.
"When a school wants and sees the need … for nutrition education, for environmental and nature education, they reach out to us," Monaghan said. "We have everything from sensory gardens to larger production farms as well."
One of their largest production sites is the Homan Rails Farm, where they grow green tomatoes and beans, among other things.
"A lot of times we find that in the communities that we serve, the biggest barrier is access to healthy fruits and vegetables, and we seek to fill a gap in food equity," Monaghan said.
Sims wants their harvest to be something the community can rely on by growing food in order to shrink that gap.
"One of our main goals is to be a touchpoint for healthy food access," she said. "We give all of our produce away, but we do not give away anything we ourselves would not purchase in a store."
"In North Lawndale, we have an oversaturation of population relying on too few commercial food places," Sims added.
For the past nine years, the Gardeneers have been cultivating an alternative with new food and familiar favorites.
"You're able to get a full scope of planting harvests, and then enjoying that bounty at the end of the harvest," Monaghan said.
"One of the simplest ways to build community with someone new is to break bread, is to share food. So that's why we do food, that's how we do food, and that's why it's really important to us," Sims said.
Sims said that's why they try to teach kids it's not just okay to get their hands dirty, but it can be a good thing.
