DOWNERS GROVE, IL – Once again, National Garden Bureau, American Meadows and Sakata Seed America are uniting to provide $5,000 in grant money for three well-deserving Therapeutic Gardens in North America. In addition, Corona Tools will generously provide a set of quality gardening tools to each of the three winning therapeutic gardens.
National Garden Bureau launched this philanthropic program in 2014 and to date, has given more than $40,000 to support the growth of therapeutic gardens, furthering its mission to inspire, educate and motivate gardeners and non-gardeners alike.
During the last year gardening has played an even bigger role in improving the quality of life through the healing elements of nature. According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, horticultural therapy (HT) is a time-proven practice, one that is seeing an upswing in recent years. HT programs are used to assist participants in learning new skills or regaining those that were lost. The therapeutic garden provides the environment to facilitate plant and participant interaction and can focus on healing, rehabilitation, vocational and socialization activities.
Applications are now being accepted from therapeutic gardens that meet the following criteria:
- Have a defined therapeutic program, with a Registered Horticulture Therapist on-staff or serving as an advisor and uses the garden to achieve outlined goals for the participants. Examples include occupational, physical, vocational or rehabilitation therapy taking place in a garden setting with significant people and plant interaction.
- Is used for job-training, skill-building, food growing, socialization skills, improved quality of life, environmental education or any other positive outcome that can be gained by working in nature.
- Involve a significant number of gardeners, clients, patients, visitors or students on a monthly basis.
- Has been in existence for at least one year.
The 2020 grant recipients were: The Learning Garden in Los Angeles, CA, Capper Foundation in Topeka, KS and Allies, Inc. in Hamilton, NJ.
To apply, applicants who meet the criteria outlined above should complete this application form and submit it to the NGB office by June 30, 2021. A group of horticulture therapy experts will narrow down applications to three finalists. Those three finalists will then be asked to submit a one-minute video featuring their program which will be posted on social media. Voting by the public will be open from September 10-24, 2021. The top vote-getter will receive $3,000, second and third place will receive $1,000 each.
For more information about this project or National Garden Bureau, visit: www.ngb.org and follow National Garden Bureau on Social Media.
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National Garden Bureau, founded in 1920, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to disseminate basic instructions for home gardeners. Annually, NGB publishes and sponsors the New Varieties program and the Year Of The fact sheets featuring flowers and vegetables, including new introductions, which are especially suited to home gardens. National Garden Bureau has also taken an active role in supporting therapeutic gardens through fundraising and grants.
American Meadows is one of the most respected online retailers of wildflower seeds, perennial plants, flower bulbs and vegetable seeds in all of North America. Our people have been helping supply gardeners since 1981. At American Meadows, we like to say that we Do Good Through Gardening. Our primary focus is to be great at providing home gardeners with the products and knowledge they need to succeed. We seek to be a trusted gardening partner for creative gardeners —those who are willing to combine new ideas and products with classic favorites. Our customers range from some of the most experienced horticulturists in the country, to those who simply want to add a little color to their life, and everyone in between.
Sakata Seed America is a major research, vegetable and flower seed production and marketing-distribution company. Corporate Giving is one important way that Sakata Seed America works to contribute to the betterment of life and culture in the communities where they conduct business. Through financial contributions, in-kind donations, employee engagement, corporate volunteering and organizational leadership, their goals are to educate individuals on the benefits of flowers and vegetables, provide products and services to those in need, and assist those who are working to better their communities.
