Photos: Residents Grow Organic Produce in Community Garden

Dozens of community members attended the Summit ACHIEVE Community Garden ribbon cutting ceremony on June 24 at the garden’s Beauvoir Avenue location.

Check out our photo gallery above.

Those in attendance included Mayor Ellen Dickson, who has her own plot at the garden; Councilman Tom Getzendanner; Darrell Johnson, Summit Area YMCA President & CEO; Overlook Medical Center President Alan Lieber; Environmental Commission member Marian Glenn, who is Chair of the volunteer ACHIEVE committee; Janet Smith, of the Summit Area YMCA, who spearheaded this initiative; ACHIEVE steering committee members as well as YMCA staff members. 

The garden is located on a parcel of land donated for use under a five-year free land lease agreement by Overlook Medical Center, according to an ACHIEVE press release. The garden is partially funded through a grant to the Summit Area YMCA from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The project is meant to help fight obesity and encourage residents to live a healthier lifestyle. 

The Summit ACHIEVE committee acted very quickly to build this garden after gaining approval from the Summit Zoning Board earlier this year. The garden includes 44 raised beds, which are each 4 feet by 12 feet in size, according to the press release. The annual fee for the 2013 season is $75. However, one-third of the plots were reserved for lower-income residents at a reduced annual fee of $25 to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to benefit from fresh, nutritious food. Participants can cultivate organic vegetables, fruits and herbs, and no chemicals are used.

Read more about the Summit ACHIEVE Community Garden here.