Grassroots Gardens WNY and Fidelis Care are partnering to build two new school gardens, ready for the 2026 growing season!
School gardens are a major focus of Grassroots Gardens WNY’s mission, with more than 30 schools represented in the network. By providing resources, activities, and learning materials, students are granted hands-on experiences with seedlings, soil, and fresh produce. This active learning increases knowledge about our local food system and healthy eating habits. Students often get the opportunity to pick their own veggies for the first time! In some programs, a cooking component brings the learning cycle full circle, showing how food gets from farm to table.
With the help of Fidelis Care’s Here for Your Health initiative, Grassroots Gardens WNY is facilitating the construction of a new garden at PS 074 Hamlin Park Claude & Ouida Clapp Academy. The first phase, recently completed by student volunteers, built street-facing beds at the school just before the city’s first snowfall. These beds will be available for community learning and harvest, acting as a gateway to school-led activities. At the start of the new growing season, four raised beds for veggies will be constructed inside the campus courtyard. Once complete, PS 074’s future plans for the garden include a mini-greenhouse for seed starting and Saturday programming for the school’s community.
This investment is part of the Here for Your Health initiative, supporting community garden programs throughout New York. Statewide, the initiative also will provide health equity grants and community events to drive meaningful change at the neighborhood level.
The partnership will continue in early Spring, when Grassroots Gardens WNY will work with Fidelis Care to construct a second school garden in Buffalo.
We’re deeply grateful to Fidelis Care for supporting this project – we can’t wait to see what our students grow! Follow along on Facebook and Instagram for updates on these new gardens throughout the 2026 season!
