“This garden is important for me, for my children and grandchildren, and for my friends.”
– Antonio, Gardener at Stanford-Avalon Community Garden
 Antonio is diabetic. Before he joined the Stanford-Avalon Community Garden three years ago, he ate junk food almost every day. Now, he plants and eats a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables including beets, chipilin, green chiles, corn, cucumber, moringa, red cauliflower, alache, quelite, and raspberries. He feels physically healthier from improved diet as well as from the exercise gardening provides.
Being in the garden is therapeutic for Antonio; it reminds him of the farm where he was raised in Michoacan, Mexico. The garden has enabled him to pass along to his children and grandchildren the skills that his grandparents and parents taught him. He is proud that his son is on the wait list for a garden plot, so that one day he will be able to feed his family fresh food too.
Antonio is one of 200 gardeners at Stanford-Avalon Community Garden in South Los Angeles. The gardeners here work 30’ x 30’ plots under the powerlines and they rely on their harvest and the income from their produce to feed their families.
The gardeners’ greatest expense is water. We continue to work with the gardeners to ensure that they are using water wisely and conserving wherever possible. Antonio captures the spirit of the gardeners when he says,
“Even though we have many problems here, we are a family…
when we see an open faucet, we close it.”
However, the cost of water for community gardens is increasing almost 300% over a five-year period. We have already increased gardeners’ dues from $20 to $25 per month to help cover this water rate hike. If we pass along the full increase to the gardeners, they will each need to pay $80 per month by 2020 and many of them simply cannot afford this and will have to leave the community garden. We want to keep the dream that Antonio and others have for their children alive!
This is why we are emailing you. We need to raise $11,000 by December 31st to support the gardeners at Stanford-Avalon Community Garden for the next year. We need 200 people to donate $55 each to enable a gardener, like Antonio, to continue to grow healthy food for their family. Would you be able to make this commitment today?
Stanford-Avalon is just one of the 42 community gardens that partner with Los Angeles Community Garden Council, and they are all suffering from the increased water rates. We hope that you share our belief that every person has the right to grow healthy food in their neighborhood and that you will give as generously as you can.
You can make a secure online donation here or mail your check, payable to Los Angeles Community Garden Council, to the address below.
Thank you, in advance, for your generosity during this season of Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Julie Beals
Executive Director
Los Angeles Community Garden Council
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