Charity Blooms, an all-volunteer run community farm, is helping feed its local community in Aurora, Illinois. What started as a seed of an idea has blossomed into a flourishing network of hundreds of volunteers who work together to grow thousands of pounds of fresh produce a year, which is then delivered to local food pantries—and their impact is showing no signs of slowing down.
In 2017, Robert Vaughan of Aurora, Illinois came up with an idea that filled him with passion: to start a local community garden where he and his friends could grow fresh vegetables in their spare time, and donate the harvests to local food pantries. Simple in theory, but monumental in execution—especially because Robert didn’t have any prior experience in agriculture. After running the idea past a few close friends who eagerly volunteered to help Robert’s vision come to life, Charity Blooms was born.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing in the dirt, being outside and growing plants,” Robert shares. “This gave me an opportunity to do both on a large scale, and benefit the community at the same time.”
Shortly after the founding team started out on a small property by teaching themselves how to farm using accessible resources like YouTube and online gardening blogs, Robert was introduced to the executive director of the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry, who had recently acquired a community garden space right across the street and were looking for someone to manage it. After learning more about one another’s’ missions, the path forward for the two organizations became clear, and Charity Blooms agreed to take over and transform the space.
Brad Nehrbass, close friend to Robert and a Charity Blooms Board of Director, remembers the day that Robert showed him the new farm space for the first time.
“The land was filled with grass, weeds, a few dilapidated raised beds, and nothing else,” Brad recalls. “He was beaming from ear to ear, and so excited. I told Rob he was crazy, but he told me he had a vision—and I said I’d support him in that. Fast forward a few years later and here we are!”
In their first year, Charity Blooms started with just four people who grew 600 pounds of food to deliver to local food pantries. Today, they have expanded into a vast and dedicated network of more than 450 farm volunteers, who collectively grew over 5,000 pounds of fresh produce in 2023 alone. With their impact continuing to rise, and more improvement projects coming to mind, the team decided to start a GoFundMe to ask for help from their community.
Brad shares, “I have to admit, I was a little nervous. This was our first big fundraiser, and I was worried that we were not going to be successful.”
Despite the initial nerves, the Charity Blooms team was heartened by the community’s response, who have donated over $1,900 and counting to help the farm grow and expand.
Robert reflects, “We didn’t realize how many people wanted to support us. We simply had to ask. It was truly moving to see how many people donated their hard-earned money to help us fulfill our mission to provide more fresh vegetables to the people who need them most.”
With continued community support, and new volunteers cropping up all the time, the future of Charity Blooms looks bright. The team is focused on expanding their impact by being able to welcome different groups of people to the farm to provide educational experiences about agriculture, in addition to making improvements to increase the amount of food they’re able to grow.
When asked for advice for anyone who is inspired to make an impact in their communities too, Robert shares this:
“It’s okay to not have a plan. Sometimes all it takes is a strong passion and determination to be successful. If you’re on the right path, people will find you and the rest will fall into place.”
