Pleasant Playground Garden $13,000 Fundraiser

We’re up and running! Will you help us get to the finish line?

It's been more than two years since Joseph Johnson proposed building a community garden at Pleasant Playground in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. Despite some initial setbacks— including a global pandemic— after a lot of hard work and perseverance by the Garden Committee, Phase One of the garden was completed this past summer, but we need your help to complete Phase 2.

This winter, thanks to a generous matching grant of $6,500 by Bob and Nancy Elfant, we have the chance to raise the remaining $13,000 that we need to make our $20,000 goal. We’ve got one month to meet Bob and Nancy’s matching grant. Will you help us get there?


Garden Committee Members Laureen, Dimka and Joe at the Seed Giveaway

With your help, we can do this.
We are so excited to announce that we have built 46 out of our 50 beds, have installed a water tank that gets its water from a nearby fire hydrant (it’s so cool!), nearly all beds have been filled by gardeners who have planted fall crops, and we’ve even planted a pollinator garden! 

So many people have shown their support by donating their time and money to this ambitious project. This past spring we raised $7,000 in small donations. 


Gardeners participate in a hoop cover and pest control workshop


We’ve done so much, but this is just the beginning:

Pleasant Playground Community Garden is not just a place where individuals in our neighborhood can grow food, it is also a place to grow and strengthen our Mt. Airy community. The possibilities are limitless— educational opportunities for people of all ages, knowledge and culture exchange, a new green space for us to gather and commune— there is so much we can do! 

COVID-19 has shown us how precious and needed green spaces are in our city. We want to keep working to bring this garden to life, but need additional funds to complete the next phase which includes building our remaining garden beds, creating our education center, adding compost bins, picnic tables, a community bulletin board, a storage shed, and of course partnering with our neighbors and programming lots and lots of events! 

Seed packets donated thanks to Lisa Mosca from Food Moxie!

Please note: Your donation goes directly to the Pleasant Playground Garden Fund cared by the Pleasant Playground Advisory Council. All donations go directly to support the build-out and sustainment of the garden as well as events and programing. Donors will be recognized by having their names added to  our donor recognition signage that will be part of the community garden infrastructure. Donations are not tax-deductible.

If you require a tax deductible donation,  please contact the garden team for information on how to make a tax-deductible garden donation of $1000 or more at pleasantplaygroundgarden - at - gmail - dot - com. 

About Pleasant Playground:

The garden is located at Pleasant Playground, a 4.7 acre Philadelphia Parks and Recreation facility that serves as a vibrant hub for the neighborhood with its pool, ball fields, tennis, basketball and volleyball  courts, and active community center. The Pleasant Playground Community Garden Committee is part of the Pleasant Playground Advisory Council as well as FarmPhilly. All funds to make this project a reality have been raised from our community.

Free plant starters donated by Ruth Bennett Community Farm in West Chester were given to gardeners!