Support The Food Project in Boston

You can make sure healthy, affordable fruits and vegetables reach Americans in need by helping The Food Project plant gardens in Boston.

The Food Project (TFP) is transforming abandoned urban lots into verdant, productive farms that make nutritious fresh produce available in former food deserts. Diverse groups of teenagers from urban and suburban communities in the Greater Boston area are employed to help grow 250,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables on these farms each year—using organic methods! Approximately 40% of the food grown is donated to hunger relief organizations and homeless shelters, or sold at below-market rates at farmers' markets in Boston and Lynn, where food-assistance benefits are accepted. The Food Project's teenagers also help build backyard gardens in low-income neighborhoods so gardeners can safely grow their own food—and teach peers about healthy eating choices.

Help transform food deserts into food oases! Each dollar of your donation will support one square foot of The Food Project's farmland, where young leaders are cultivated, thousands of pounds of fresh produce are grown and distributed to those in need, and urban neighborhoods and backyards produce healthy food for local residents.

Report from the Field

From Polly Reeve, Director of Development:

The summer Seed Crew concluded last August and with it nearly 80 youth graduated from this immersive program. Beginning in July, young people undertook daily fieldwork, such as planting, cultivating, and harvesting, in the fields of our urban and suburban farms throughout eastern Massachusetts. Bridging a diversity of race, socioeconomic status, geography, culture, and backgrounds, these young people learned to communicate, work, and learn together across their differences through the commonality of food. Daily workshops introduced participants to social justice, food systems, diversity and inclusion, and nutrition as Seed Crew members learned alongside, and from, a diverse group of peers.

Dirt Crews led hundreds of volunteers in service on our farms where they participated in planting, weeding, and harvesting while teaching about local, sustainable food systems. Dirt Crews also built 100 raised-bed gardens in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Lynn and supported the continued use of 20 beds that previous Dirt Crews had built.

About The Food Project

The Food Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in eastern Massachusetts, engages teenagers in personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. On both urban and suburban farmland, TFP produces youth leaders by giving them deeply meaningful work and responsible roles. In addition to providing hunger relief, TFP teens are provided with valuable job experiences and a personal connection to the food system and issues of food justice. TFP also provides training resources to individuals and organizations interested in TFP's model of youth development and sustainable agriculture.