GROW seeks community support on Giving Tuesday

What comes after Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday?

Giving Tuesday, a worldwide generosity movement, inspiring people to give back to the communities and organizations working hard to make the world a better place. Local community garden nonprofit, GROW!, Gardeners for Regional Organic Well-being, is asking for Boundary County’s support on this year’s Giving Tuesday, which is Decmber 1. The community's support is especially important this year, as GROW! was unable to hold its traditional fundraisers, including its popular Farm-To-Table Fundraising Dinner and the spring raffle.

In 2019, with support from partnering agencies, GROW! started the Little Free Garden project in Boundary County, the first area in Idaho to participate in this national program that promotes gardening and gardening education. Much like Little Free Libraries, these small raised beds provide free produce to the local community. Boundary County now has 38 Little Free Gardens, and plans are in place to create many more in 2021!

GROW’s mission is to enhance the availability of local, healthy food by distributing organic produce to local community organizations and by providing low-cost organic garden plots in the local community garden. In 2020, GROW donated over 1,500 pounds of organic produce to area food banks in Boundary County.

All these activities would not be possible without the support of community organizations and volunteers. GROW! Volunteers and local Idaho Master Gardeners generously donated over 450 hours of their time to these projects. The City of Bonners Ferry provided financial support for the Little Free Garden Project through a High Five! grant funded by the Blue Cross Foundation. Over ten years ago, Trinity Lutheran Church allowed GROW! to create a community garden on their property. This generous arrangement allows GROW! to continue to fulfill its mission, which is to enhance the availability of local, healthy food by distributing organic produce to local community organizations and by providing low-cost organic garden plots in our community garden.

Your tax-deductible donations to GROW!, a 501c3 nonprofit, can be done online at growboundarycounty.org or via mail (PO Box 1433, Bonners Ferry, ID). A link can also be found on GROW’s Facebook page, Grow Boundary County. For more information, contact Gray Henderson, GROW! President, at gray@growboundarycounty.org, or Kate Painter, GROW! Secretary, kate@growboundarycounty.org, 509-432-5755 cell/text.