Bountiful Cities 2023 Impact Report

Bountiful Cities grew so much in 2023! We grew and shared food, knowledge and community through our FEAST program, Cooking and Gardening Education, Community Garden Support, Mentoring, and Food Policy work. Here is more about our impact in 2023.

FEAST - Over 1000 FEAST students, 700+ FEAST cooking and gardening classes, 100+ hours of volunteer work, 5 school gardens maintained, 48 Garden and Gather workdays, 7 plant sale fundraisers, host for 3 Americorps Project Power members, 9000+ pounds of fresh food distributed.

Apprenticeship Program - 9 months of food and farming education for BIPOC apprentices paid a living wage, 13 farms visited, almost 3000 collective hours shadowing, studying food & farming systems with local agrarians, mentors, and leaders in WNC.

Community Garden Support - 10 Free workshops with 200+ participants and topics ranging from edible plant identification to tool repair. Seed Libraries and Tool Library maintained and shared, Urban Garden Tour with 9 community gardens supported by the proceeds, 20 community work days hosted at Asheville Edible Parks. 80+ volunteer hours constructing new greenhouse and collaborative growing spaces at Pearson Garden. 

Events/Collaborations - over 2000 community members participated in our awareness raising events such as the Urban Garden Tour and Tasting, workshops, fundraisers, and demonstrations. Collaboration with over 150 local businesses and organizations to support long term food security.

Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council - 5 community leaders supported to spearhead Neighborhood Emergency Food Preparedness Plans in historically Black legacy neighborhood and public housing community with a total of 14,300+ residents, collaborated with Asheville public housing families to plant 4 gardens, produce a video about its food-security initiatives, and host a neighborhood-wide Earth Day celebration, hosted 8 food policy interns, led Food Waste Solutions WNC in hosting Food Waste Reduction Month events and WNC Food Waste Solutions Summit attended by 140+ people from all over the state.

Please support our work so we can continue to put systems in place for abundant fresh food for everyone in this community. 

Support our Programs HERE