Thanks to a $5,000 grant from the national nonprofit Alliance for Community Trees, Cooper Sprouts Garden in Camden now has 15 new trees — 8 of which are FRUIT TREES! This site is now considered a local People’s Garden, part of the nationwide network of gardens supported by the USDA People’s Garden Initiative.
The Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) People’s Garden Grant Program is a new national initiative launched in 2012 to explore and deepen the connection between trees and urban agriculture. With support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, ACTrees has provided funding to 30 communities in 21 states to plant trees that produce fruit and nuts or provide shelter to community gardens.
“Trees are critical to healthy people and healthy communities,” said ACTrees Executive Director Carrie Gallagher. “We are excited to offer this opportunity to the NJ Tree Foundation to demonstrate locally that trees are an integral part of sustainable community agriculture.”
“Fruit trees are in such high demand in Camden,” explained Jessica Franzini, Program Director for the NJ Tree Foundation in Camden, “with this grant, we can finally begin meeting that need.” In Camden, only one supermarket serves over 70,000 people. “Camden is a food desert,” said Mike Devlin of the Camden City Garden Club.
On Saturday, April 28th – as the City of Camden’s official Arbor Day Celebration – 40 volunteers from the Cooper Lanning Civic Association, Cooper Hospital, the Camden Aquarium, Center for Family Services, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc, a Champion’s Heart and more dug holes, planted trees, and laid mulch at the Cooper Sprouts Garden. In just three hours, 15 new trees were planted! Photos are posted here.
For more information on ACTrees, please visit www.ACTrees.org, follow them on Twitter @alliance4trees, and like them on Facebook at facebook.com/AllianceforCommunityTrees.
