2009 Scott’s Gro-Good Campaign in Review

In 2009 the recession hit the country hard. To ease the pain, Americans turned to food gardening in increased numbers. Many saw food gardening as a way to make ends meet financially, eat better, and help others at the risk for hunger. To encourage Americans to grow more of their own food ScottsMiracle Gro, along with its nonprofit partners (National Gardening Association, Garden Writers Association, Plant a Row for the Hungry, Franklin Park Conservatory, and Keep America Beautiful), initiated the GroGood campaign. The campaign asked all Americans to grow more food for themselves and others. To launch the GroGood campaign, ScottsMiracle-Gro donated 1 million pounds of produce to food banks nationwide and called on Americans to help double that donation by pledging to grow an additional 1 million pounds of fresh produce to help feed those at risk for hunger. The GroGood campaign was launched last spring at community gardens in 5 different locations across the country. Following are updates from each of the 2009 sites.

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Washington, D.C.
All summer long, the children from the GroGood community garden harvested vegetables and donated approximately 100 pounds of produce each week to D.C. Central Kitchen, the local area food bank. Inspired by the success of the GroGood community garden, D.C. Parks & Recreation plans to install community gardens in all of their sites in 2010.

Miami, Florida
The GroGood community garden inspired Keep Miami Beautiful to mentor a group for Miami citizens interested in starting more gardens. As a result, five new gardens have been created. The gardeners donated all the produce for the Thanksgiving "Love Feast," an annual Thanksgiving meal for the homeless sponsored by New Birth Food Kitchen.

Dallas, Texas
The GroGood community garden in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas continues to thrive and donations of produce were made weekly to a local food agency.  They plan to expand the garden in 2010 to include a butterfly habitat.

Chicago, Illinois
The GroGood community garden provided an educational, fun, and inspirational place for neighborhood kids to hang out. In the true spirit of volunteerism, the community advocate welcomed neighborhood children to learn how to grow food to feed their families and loved ones. Extra harvest was donated to Inspiration Cafe, the local area food bank.

Marysville, Ohio
The Marysville Food Pantry received more than 3,000 pounds of fresh produce in 2009 from the GroGood ScottsMiracle-Gro Associate Gardens. These donations provided vegetables to more than 100 local families each week — something the food pantry had not done previously.

For 2010, Scotts and its partners plan to expand the program to more communities across the U.S. Stay tuned for more information.