DOWNERS GROVE, IL — After collecting a grand total of almost 60,000 votes from the public, National Garden Bureau, American Meadows and Sakata Seed America are proud to announce the three therapeutic gardens receiving grants totaling $5,000.
The three winning gardens are:
·Beyond Boundaries, Ward, Arkansas
First place vote-recipient; winner of a $3,000 grant.
Beyond Boundaries is an equine-assisted therapy center that provides skilled therapy services to children and adults with disabilities. Founded in 2003, and receiving 501-3c status in 2004, Beyond Boundaries was conceived by a group of therapists and other individuals who identified the need for a dedicated equine-assisted therapy center to offer unduplicated services for individuals with disabilities in the rural areas of central Arkansas. Beyond Boundaries employees licensed speech, occupational, and physical therapists that provide specialized services to children and adults with disabilities.
Beyond Boundaries is located on a beautiful piece of land in central Arkansas and is currently home to a herd of horses trained specifically for use in therapy sessions. The unique setting and atmosphere that Beyond Boundaries fosters promote interaction with and awareness of the outdoor environment. In order to expand its therapeutic offerings, add to the beauty of the natural setting, and to develop a safe place for outdoor exploration, Beyond Boundaries is currently working to design and develop a Sensory Garden. A Sensory Garden is a garden environment specifically designed and planted to stimulate all five senses: sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound. The purpose of the Sensory Garden is to provide a natural environment for these individuals to therapeutically interact with nature in a way that promotes stimulation of all five senses. These types of gardens are especially beneficial to individuals who have sensory processing issues, although people of all ages and abilities will be able to enjoy the garden and its benefits.
·Kenny Rogers Children’s Center Sensory Garden, Sikeston, MO
Second place vote-recipient; winner of a $1,000 grant.
The Kenny Rogers Children’s Center is an outpatient pediatric therapy center whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children with special needs and their families throughout the community and region by providing a wide array of superior developmental and therapeutic services. The Kenny Rogers Children’s Center Sensory Garden is located on the grounds of the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center. This 1600 square foot garden is designed for sensory exploration and enrichment providing a space where children of all ability levels can be immersed in the scents, textures, colors, and sounds of the outdoors. The garden will provide stimulation for the five basic senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) as well as two other foundational sensory systems, the vestibular system and the proprioceptive/kinesthetic system. The garden will be fully accessible to children of all ages and to those who use any type of assistive device including walkers, wheelchairs, or crutches.
The Kenny Rogers Children’s Center provides outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy services to children with special health care needs ranging in age from birth to 21 years of age. The Kenny Rogers Children’s Center services children with all types of special health care needs and developmental delays including cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism, spina bifida, traumatic brain injury, prematurity, muscular dystrophy, ADHD, sensory processing dysfunction, and many other developmental disorders.
·Insight Garden Program, Berkeley, CA
Third place vote-recipient; winner of a $1,000 grant.
Insight Garden Program (IGP) facilitates an innovative environmental education curriculum combined with vocational gardening and landscaping training, so that people in prison can reconnect to self, community, and the natural world. This “inner” and “outer” gardening approach transforms lives, ends ongoing cycles of incarceration, and creates safer communities. Our program operates at the intersection of environment, criminal justice, and physical, behavioral, and mental health issues and provides people in prison with the tools and resources needed to become role models for others in prison, and in their communities upon release.
Since 2002, Insight Garden Program has successfully managed a program on H-Unit at San Quentin Prison. Over the past 16 years, IGP has designed, installed and maintained two gardens on H-Unit and has worked with over 1000 participants, many of whom have gone on to be successfully employed by green sector employers including our community partner Planting Justice.
National Garden Bureau, American Meadows and Sakata Seed America would like to recognize all 73 of the worthy grant applicants that are listed on the NGB website. NGB encourages support of these and other therapeutic gardens by the industry, local communities, and individuals.
The judges who read through all 73 applications and narrowed them down to the three finalists deserve a huge thank-you. Those judges are:
Patty Cassidy, Vice President of the American Horticultural Therapy Association
Barbara Kreski, Director, Horticultural Therapy Services, Chicago Botanic Garden
Julie Tracy, President, Julie+Michael Tracy Family Foundation/Growing Solutions Farm
Alecia Troy, Senior Marketing Manager, Sakata Seed America
Mike Lizotte, Owner/Managing Partner at American Meadows
Tim Hodson, Editorial Director at Greenhouse Product New and NGB President
For more information about National Garden Bureau, please contact Diane Blazek.
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. www.ngb.org
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. www.sakata.com
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. They have been helping supply creative gardeners of all types since 1981. American Meadows state, We Do Good Through Gardening” which is done partly by providing home gardeners with the products and knowledge they need to succeed. https://www.americanmeadows.com/
Source: National Garden Bureau
