Making Worcester's community gardens more accessible to seniors citizens

Seniors are one of the most valuable resources of our work. They provide us with a wealth of knowledge about gardening and also bring their enthusiasm for gardening as a past time. According to elderly health specialists and social workers, time spent gardening also helps seniors to reduce their stress and remain physically active.

Unfortunately, over time, many of REC’s senior gardeners have been unable to engage in gardening activities due to physical limitations such as bending over gardening beds. Conventional gardening beds are less than a foot high off the ground, which makes gardening inaccessible to senior citizens. The solution to this problem is to construct raised beds that are 2 to 3 feet high off the ground.

In 2006 we were fortunate to receive the support Home Depot, who helped us kick off our senior gardens initiative in the summer by creating raised beds at three of the nine community gardens that serve senior citizens. A fence was also constructed at the Lincoln Tower Community Garden to create stability and permanence for the garden as well as fend off the geese! With the help of dozens of volunteers and a Home Depot Community Impact Grant twenty raised beds were built at the Worcester Senior Center , Greenwood Gardens and Elm Park Tower.   In the future with even more support we can expand this effort and make all gardens in Worcester accessible and fruitful for senior gardeners.

UGROW also supports senior gardens through having a network garden at the Worcester Senior Center.  As a special resource to the Senior Center in 2007 UGROW led 3 window box workshops at the center with over 50 participants!