Ground is broken to provide fresh produce to northeast neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods of northeast Houston, including FifthWard, Kashmere Gardens and Denver Harbor, will soon get a community garden aimed at providing fresh produce to residents of the city’s “food desert” communities.
Target Hunger, a Houston nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating hunger, broke ground on an urban garden that will provide nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh vegetables annually.
The project is made possible by a $94,000 donation from the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, which provides grants for nonprofit organizations implementing sustainability projects.
The Green Mountain Energy Sun Club Shotwell
Garden, 1260 Shotwell (the location of Target Hunger, a UnitedWay agency), will be an above-ground container garden placed on 2,400 recycled plastic crates.
Construction should be completed by the end of the year, and the first harvest is projected for late spring to begin serving more than 1,000 families in the neighborhoods of Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens,
Settegast, Magnolia Park, North Forest andDenver Harbor.
According to Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, more than 500,000 Houston residents live in USDAdesignated food deserts, defined as areas with limited access to a variety of affordable, healthful food options.