Giving Tuesday

Oak Spring Garden Foundation

Over the next few weeks, leading up to the official Giving Tuesday (12/2), we’ll be sharing information about our Local Education & Outreach (LEO) initiative and asking for your kind generosity in helping us grow our impact in the community. This week we’re focusing on growing roots. With the help of our incredible network of subscribers, visitors, and partners, our LEO team has been able to host over 4,200 programs for kids, seniors, and the community  just this year alone! But we know there is even more we can do. Through external support, we’ve been able to make a start on increasing our capacity in this area. We’ve renovated the Eliza Moore Greenhouse to elevate our hands-on learning hub for field trips and camp for kids, and are in the midst of renovations on our Biocultural Conservation garden to create a children’s learning garden. The greenhouse has also provided more space for our Biocultural Conservation Farm (BCCF) team to grow plants all year, most of which are donated to combat food insecurity in our region. By the end of December roughly 30,000 pounds of produce will have been donated to local food pantries in 2025.

Aside from our roots at Oak Spring, we’re also out in the community, establishing and growing a community garden at Claude Thompson Elementary, gifting plants and crops grown by the BCCF team at local food banks and offering free experiential learning for kids at local farmers markets, and in weekly public library programs. And that is just a fraction of the work the LEO and BCCF teams do to give back. We’re setting a goal to raise $10,000 this Giving Tuesday. With your help, we’ll be able to continue establishing deeper roots and planting seeds of change in our community for generations to come. Thank you for helping us inspire our youth with careers in agriculture, conservation, horticulture, the arts, and more.