With so many of our neighbors out of work due to COVID-19, local food insecurity is on the rise. So why not grow our own food? Chicago Grows Food (CGF) is an organization dedicated to expanding the food growing community in Chicago and recently cultivated a food garden relief effort known as the Grow Your Groceries Campaign (see highlight on NBC Channel 5 ). The Grow Your Groceries campaign empowers Chicago residents with the tools needed to start growing healthy food at home by supplying grow bags, soil, seeds, and literature free of charge. So far, CGF has distributed over 1,700 grow kits to Chicago residents in 24 community areas.
CGF is an organization led by folks we know and love from our time working in farms and gardens across Chicago. To support the Grow Your Groceries campaign, we’ll be biking 2,000 miles along the Pacific Coast from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico. Along the way we’ll visit urban farms and facilitate connections between urban growers. Through this we hope to build an exchange of knowledge between Chicago growers and growers on the West Coast. Our knowledge exchange will involve weekly blog posts on this page, live streams of our visits to urban farms, and additional video content of our cycling experience.
For every 2 miles we ride we’re hoping to collectively raise $20 for this campaign in an effort to support the expansion of Black and Brown families producing food in Chicago.
This $20 donation will provide one grow kit to a Chicago student as a means of supporting fall remote learning. Each kit includes:
- (1) Fabric grow bag
- Organic potting soil
- Organic fertilizer
- Vegetable seedling
- Seed packet
- Activity booklet and guide
These grow kits will introduce students to gardening with resources on topics ranging from pruning to harvesting to sowing seeds. CGF plans to launch its Virtual Urban Gardening series in the fall and our visits to urban farms on the West Coast will supplement this remote classroom learning.
We know the urgency of CGF’s mission, but cannot contribute adequately without leaning on our community. Please donate and share with your friends and family! A little bit goes a long way. We’ll be posting updates weekly until we’ve reached our goal. We look forward to connecting with you all virtually and cycling along with us!
CGF is an organization led by folks we know and love from our time working in farms and gardens across Chicago. To support the Grow Your Groceries campaign, we’ll be biking 2,000 miles along the Pacific Coast from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico. Along the way we’ll visit urban farms and facilitate connections between urban growers. Through this we hope to build an exchange of knowledge between Chicago growers and growers on the West Coast. Our knowledge exchange will involve weekly blog posts on this page, live streams of our visits to urban farms, and additional video content of our cycling experience.
For every 2 miles we ride we’re hoping to collectively raise $20 for this campaign in an effort to support the expansion of Black and Brown families producing food in Chicago.
This $20 donation will provide one grow kit to a Chicago student as a means of supporting fall remote learning. Each kit includes:
- (1) Fabric grow bag
- Organic potting soil
- Organic fertilizer
- Vegetable seedling
- Seed packet
- Activity booklet and guide
These grow kits will introduce students to gardening with resources on topics ranging from pruning to harvesting to sowing seeds. CGF plans to launch its Virtual Urban Gardening series in the fall and our visits to urban farms on the West Coast will supplement this remote classroom learning.
We know the urgency of CGF’s mission, but cannot contribute adequately without leaning on our community. Please donate and share with your friends and family! A little bit goes a long way. We’ll be posting updates weekly until we’ve reached our goal. We look forward to connecting with you all virtually and cycling along with us!
Co-organizers4
Chicago Grows Food
Beneficiary