As the Gardens For Everyone program continues to bloom in Wake and Durham Counties, sprouting new garden bed boxes each week for new gardeners in the community, the need for gardening knowledge and hands-on familiarity with the soil has grown along with it. Enter the Gardens For Everyone Mentorship Program—an opportunity for seasoned gardeners to pass along their gardening wisdom and experience with newcomers to the joys of growing food in the earth.
Gardens For Everyone is a pay-what-you-can program where Inter-Faith Food Shuttle staff and volunteers build 4’x 8’x20” raised bed garden boxes for individuals and organizations on their property. Priority is given to low- to moderate-income households, as well as organizations that want to grow food for their community. There is a $25 minimum contribution from individuals and families and organizations are asked to pay the full cost of the bed, which is $200. Scholarships are available and applications are accepted year-round.
In addition to soil, seeds and seedlings, the Food Shuttle provides participants with gardening education and support to ensure that they achieve gardening success. The Mentorship Program is one element of that education and support. Home gardeners will be paired with a mentor, with whom they will meet once a month to plan, assist in the garden, review educational resources, answer questions, and give help with anything the gardener might need.
“In order to become a successful gardener you need a few things—sunlight, water, soil, a place to garden—but most importantly you need someone to show you the ropes. Gardens For Everyone wants to provide all of the necessities, including education, so that people can be successful gardeners. The demand for garden boxes is high. In the first three weeks since launching, we’ve scheduled out ten box builds and completed five. This is where the Mentorship Program comes in. As demand increases, we will need experienced gardeners to spend time sharing knowledge and the joys of gardening with our beginning gardeners,” said Julianne Reas, Gardens For Everyone Project Coordinator and AmeriCorps Service Member..
For more information and guidelines for the Mentorship Program, click here. The online application to become a Mentor is available here. Please visit our website for information and the online application for the Gardens For Everyone program. For any questions or concerns, please email GardensForEveryone@FoodShuttle.org.