Nokomis East Giving Garden Expansion: Building for Sustainability to Support Those That Need it Most

With inflation rising, food costs at an all time high, and precariously offered SNAP benefits, the demand for free and low cost food is unprecedented. According to The Food Group, Minnesotans made nearly 9 million visits to food shelves in 2024, a whopping 1.4 million more visits than 2023.

That’s one of the reasons the Nokomis East Giving Garden prioritized the expansion of the garden in 2025. Started in 2017, the Giving Garden was a grassroots project born out of need for more food support in Nokomis East. Since its inception, the Giving Garden has provided nearly 5,500 pounds of produce to food shelves and food distributions in the area. NENA supports the garden financially and with infrastructure such as communication and volunteer resources, but the garden is completely reliant on community volunteers, who are the heart of the Giving Garden. Each summer, about 20 local residents regularly contribute their time planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, and even starting seedlings at home, collectively putting in hundreds of hours of work. Regular volunteer, Hannah Tims, spends much of her free time at the Giving Garden in the summer. Not only does she help lead the volunteers during work days, she, with the rest of the Giving Garden Committee, spends time on planning, developing and prioritizing the garden activities based on community feedback. Hannah got involved with the garden because of the Giving Garden’s goal - growing food for her neighbors. Hannah says “...I was instantly attracted to it and started to volunteer as a waterer and weekend volunteer. I accidentally got more involved in the planning process when I volunteered to help prepare for the garden move in 2022.” Hannah was also encouraged after the 2024 election by the recommendation to “deeply invest in something that is meaningful, something that builds community, something that helps others and something that brings you peace or joy- and the garden checks all of those boxes for me!”, shares Hannah.

When the Giving Garden relocated from St. James Church to Trinity Lutheran Church in 2022, it was the intention to build a space that could be expanded when the time was right. With the increasing level of food insecurity and the demands on local food shelves, NENA and the crew of volunteers recognized the time was now. With a generous

donation from Home Depot, two new garden beds were built along with additional supplies to armor the beds against bunnies and other pests. Volunteers came together to build the beds, and prepare the garden just in time for the final work day of the season. The garden crew is focusing on sustainable growth, with a plan to expand capacity next year by working with additional space to have in-ground growing capacity. Improving physical infrastructure for harvesting by purchasing much needed equipment such as tables and storage baskets will support harvesting as well as distribution to the food shelves. The benefits of the Giving Garden reach beyond providing produce to food shelves. “What I have seen is the joy people have after spending time working together in the garden. I’ve seen the joy that people get when they have extra onion bulbs, tomato plants, seeds, or even full fruit trees that they can donate to the garden. The garden gives much more than produce to the neighborhood, and our neighborhood has been so generous with their time, talents and hard work in return.” says Hannah.

NENA is proud to support the Giving Garden and humbled to receive the fruits of the labor provided by hard working community volunteers. Furthermore, NENA is dedicated to supporting food insecure neighbors in the Nokomis East Neighborhood. We acknowledge that food shelves and initiatives like the Giving Garden are part of a larger web of supports for families and individuals who struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table. We recognize as well, when one or more of those supports are taken away, as we saw in November when SNAP benefits were paused, the entire hunger relief system is at risk. Investing in the Giving Garden ensures we will be here for the long term providing healthy, fresh food to our neighbors.

If you are interested in getting involved in the Giving Garden, or are a business who may want to donate supplies, please contact NENA at nena@nokomiseast.org.