Help us buy the Galvez Garden and continue to grow

I’m Lissie and I'm excited to announce we have the opportunity to purchase the lot we’ve been leasing from the city create our beloved Galvez Garden! Now in year three of operation, my family and I have been maintaining and operating the Galvez Garden in efforts to beautify the area and decrease crime in our neighborhood. The garden hosts community compost collection on Sundays from 10:00-1:00 and has diverted over 10,000 pounds of food scraps from our landfills since offering this free service. We also grow food that we share with the community in our farm stand located outside of the vegetable garden. We host events, workshops and plant giveaways at our site and are excited to continue to provide this as a safe green space for the community and neighborhood of St. Roch.

Through our own money and the help of grants we have invested over $20,000 into making the Galvez Garden what it is today. In our demonstrated commitment and our hard work to maintain the garden, we have become an official USDA People’s Garden, producing local food, practicing sustainability, and bringing people together in our community. We are also proud to be named an official LSUAg Master Gardener project site, with emphasis on educating the community on the importance of composting, growing food, and the significance of sustainable agricultural practices to bring communities together.

The opportunity to purchase the lot has presented itself and with closing costs we are expecting to pay $30,000 to own the property. Our lease runs out in December of this year, so we’re hoping for help to keep the dream of sustainable urban gardening alive! We want to continue to offer our free composting drop off services to the city and continue to beautify the space to dissuade violence in our neighborhood.

The Galvez Garden has been transformative for our community. Crime, litter, and illegal drug usage has dramatically decreased since our family took stewardship of this property and the surrounding area. Please share with your networks to empower us to continue to provide this scared green space for years to come. Any amount helps and we thank you for supporting our fundraising goal!

Follow our journey on Instagram @galvezgarden or through the link below!

https://nolaartistincubator.org/galvez-garden/