Target Hunger has 16 community gardens that are producing an average of 1,000 servings of vegetables per month in peak growing months.  Gardening is the most cost efficient means of procuring nutritious food.  Most Target Hunger community gardens are composed of raised beds that are filled with enriched soil for high production and easy maintenance.  The first crop of vegetables from a new community garden costs one-third the wholesale price; therefore, the production cost is one-tenth the wholesale price.  Because the harvesting and distribution is done at peak ripeness, the vegetables have higher nutritional content than those purchased at grocery stores.  

Property owners loan the land to Target Hunger to use for the Community Garden Program.  Residents from the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens area, as well as neighbors from across the Houston community, volunteer to work in the gardens. Target Hunger's largest garden, the Kashmere Garden, has 30 raised beds, a fruit orchard and composting bins. The garden was featured nationally on PBS television. Three of Target Hunger's community gardens are sponsored by local senior citizen groups.  Seven of the gardens are stationed at area schools.  In this partnership with the Houston Independent School District, the gardens are used as an educational tool and a vocational training instrument for special education students. One garden is housed and maintained by a facility for delinquent boys and girls. Correctional officers use this garden as a vehicle by which these young men and women may learn and apply life skills, while giving back to the community.
                                                                                                               
For more information on the Community Gardens Program and/or volunteer opportunities in our gardens, please call 713-226-4953.