In 2003, an abandoned elementary school in North Nashville became the C.E. McGruder Family Resource Center, named for a civil rights activist committed to building a different world for her friends and family. A few years later in 2009, an advisory board formed to determine the future of the space, and the community proposed planting a garden. In addition to the garden being a gathering place for community and a sacred green space in a fast-growing city, it also offered a solution to the neighborhood’s lack of access to fresh food — there was no grocery store in North Nashville.
Now in its fifteenth growing season, McGruder Community Garden is a space where people from all walks of life gather to find connection, learn from one another, and grow food for themselves and their communities. The garden includes several colorful raised garden beds, a pollinator garden full of fresh flowers, and a small orchard of fruit trees, and is lovingly tended by community members in partnership with The Nashville Food Project.
While the garden sits on a small plot of land behind the resource center, we’ve long dreamed of expanding our growing space, in turn expanding our community. On a rainy September Saturday morning, that dream became a reality thanks to a group of volunteers with Give To Get, a social impact company that helps other organizations engage their consumers and employees in the causes that they care about. In this case, the group was brought together by none other than country music star Eric Church.
Through his foundation Chief Cares, Church worked with Give To Get to provide a subset of his top SiriusXM fans the opportunity to receive tickets to an intimate show at his downtown Nashville bar. All they had to do? Attend a dedicated volunteer shift at one of the local organizations Church had chosen, all of which share a commitment to alleviating hunger in Nashville. Fans could sign up to help out at Second Harvest Food Bank, The Store, Society of St. Andrew, or The Nashville Food Project.
It was drizzling as a team of about 25 volunteers arrived at McGruder ready to get their hands dirty. Director of Community Agriculture Patricia Tarquino introduced them to the space and the project: the group would be building 12 new raised beds, including four ADA-compliant beds along a concrete path for improved accessibility. The project would increase the production capacity of the garden by 50% and allow us to welcome gardeners of all abilities and skill levels.
“With the installation of these beds, we have the opportunity to offer community members the chance to steward individual plots next season in addition to the communal-style growing we’ve been practicing at McGruder for years,” said Hanes Motsinger, chief program officer of The Nashville Food Project. “To support individuals who will be maintaining their own plots, we plan to offer a series of educational workshops.”
The group set out to work as the rain cleared and the sun came out. As they assembled the metal beds, cleared the land around to install them, and shoveled compost to fill them, happy chatter indicated that strangers were becoming friends. Even when faced with challenges — a tricky-to-use sod cutter required some creative ways to clear space for the beds, or a bed assembly kit was missing a needed part — the team worked incredibly hard to finish the project in the three-hour time slot, and had fun while doing it.
“We’re trying to get people not only to volunteer for a day, but to understand the work that the organization is doing so that they continue to stay engaged after the incentive is gone,” said Toby Garrett, co-founder and president of Give To Get, who gave his time alongside the volunteer group, even wielding a broadfork to loosen the earth where the beds would go. And his vision came full circle. As volunteers packed up, many said with a smile that they would be back in the spring to help plant veggies in the beds they built.
New plot sign-ups will open in early 2025. Check back to join us at McGruder Community Garden next growing season!