In the fall of 2024, the Friends of Portland Community Gardens joined the SeedMoney Challenge with a clear and powerful mission: to nourish their city—one garden at a time.
Thanks to the generosity of 30 donors and a $300 Challenge Grant, the Friends raised $2,062 to support Portland’s Produce for People (PFP) program—a volunteer-led initiative that grows and donates fresh produce to more than 30 local food pantries. In 2023 alone, PFP groups contributed over 24,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables to neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
Supporting 36 Gardens Across the City
With the money raised through SeedMoney, the Friends provided essential supplies to all 36 PFP garden groups for the 2025 growing season, including:
- Organic fertilizer
- Spring, summer, and fall vegetable starts
- Bone meal and cover crop seeds
🗨️ “With money raised through this campaign, hundreds of families in Portland who are experiencing food scarcity are receiving healthy, organic produce.”
— Claudia Schechter, Friends of Portland Community Gardens
🌦️Spring Distribution – March 15, 2025
Despite the rainy morning, volunteers from all over Portland gathered to pick up early-season supplies:
- 27 bags of Nutra Rich organic fertilizer
- 65 six-packs of spring vegetable starts
☀️ Summer Distribution – May 17, 2025
Held in collaboration with the Portland Community Gardens Office, the summer event included:
- 34 six-packs and 147 four-inch pots of warm-weather vegetable starts
- 50 pounds of bone meal to enrich the soil
🍂 Looking Ahead to Fall – August 9, 2025
The final distribution of the season will provide:
- Cover crop seeds to protect and nourish garden soil
- Late-summer and fall vegetable starts for extended harvests
🌍 Beyond the Garden
A special bonus? Seeds and starts from these distributions are also shared with homeless shelters and transitional villages, where volunteers maintain rolling garden beds to grow fresh food for residents.
📍 Location: Portland, Oregon
💵 Total Raised: $2,062
🥕 Impact: 36 community gardens, 30+ food pantries, hundreds of families served
