Lowe’s Community Partners grant supports Briggs Avenue Community Garden

Volunteers began work on a new project at Briggs Avenue Community Garden on Friday, October 31, thanks to a $10,000 grant from Lowe’s to support the mission of Keep Durham Beautiful.

The Lowe’s Community Partners grant will provide funding to expand the existing garden space at Briggs Avenue Community Garden to create new demonstration areas, develop a vineyard and improve accessibility for individuals with limited mobility.

Briggs Avenue Community Garden, located at 1303 South Briggs Avenue in Durham, was founded to address issues of food security, to improve diet and to provide Durham youth and families with resources and education to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Keep Durham Beautiful grant is one of more than 60 merit-based grants awarded nationally by Lowe’s to community-based affiliates of Keep America Beautiful to support grassroots service projects.

Local Lowe’s employee volunteers, called Lowe’s Heroes, will work at the garden alongside other volunteers and City and County staff to accomplish the following projects:

• Create a 400-square-foot mortared brick patio with lighting, fans, seating and cooking stations for public use in demonstrations and community gatherings
• Develop a vineyard with grapes and blueberries to teach vineyard cultivation and management for the community
• Create accessible raised garden beds for plot owners with limited mobility

“The power of the partnership between Lowe’s and Keep America Beautiful can be seen in the work accomplished by Keep Durham Beautiful and the Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers who spend countless hours to make a difference in our targeted community initiatives,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. “Keep America Beautiful is thrilled to work with Lowe’s to continue transforming public spaces into beautiful places for a third year.”

Over the course of the partnership, KAB and Lowe’s have brought together more than 33,000 volunteers and 800 Lowe’s Heroes. Together, they’ve contributed 170,000 volunteer hours in their respective communities.

Since the Briggs Avenue Garden began in 2010, more than 55 families have grown at least 50 types of fruits and vegetables and harvested 7000 pounds of produce valued at $14,000. Over 40 partners including Cooperative Extension, local garden clubs, community colleges and businesses have helped to develop the garden.

To volunteer in the garden expansion project or to rent a garden plot, contact the Durham County Cooperative Extension Durham County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers at 919-560-0528 or mastergardener@dconc.gov. For a schedule of workdays, click here: Lowes Grant Workdays

About Keep Durham Beautiful
Keep Durham Beautiful, a non-profit affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, engages and inspires individuals to take greater responsibility for their community environment. Focus areas include litter prevention, beautification, recycling and waste reduction. To volunteer, visit http://www.keepdurhambeautiful.org or call 919-354-2729. Be sure to like us at http://www.facebook.com/KeepDurhamBeautiful or follow us at http://www.twitter.com/DurhamBeautiful.

About Lowe’s in the Community
Lowe’s, a FORTUNE^® 100 home improvement company, has a 50-year legacy of supporting the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects.  Since 2007, Lowe’s and the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation together have contributed nearly $200 million to these efforts, and for more than two decades Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers have donated their time to make our communities better places to live. To learn more, visit Lowes.com/SocialResponsibility and LowesInTheCommunity.tumblr.com.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s leading nonprofit that brings people together to build and sustain vibrant communities. With a powerful national network of community-based affiliates, we work with millions of volunteers who take action in their communities to transform public spaces into beautiful places. Through our programs and public-private partnerships, we engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment. For more information, visit kab.org, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.