MEDIA CONTACT
Ked Stanfield
director@louisvillegrows.org
502.741.7139

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      
August 20, 2019                                                                                                                                                                             

Louisville Grows celebrates 10 years of growing greener, healthier neighborhoods.

The whole community is invited to an open house at Healthy House to commemorate this achievement.

Louisville, KY – Louisville Grows is excited to celebrate its 10 year anniversary as an environmental nonprofit serving neighborhoods through their urban forestry, urban agriculture and Heathy House programs. On Saturday, August 24, 2019, from 5-7pm, the community is invited to join in the festivities at Healthy House, 1641 Portland Avenue. 

Special friends will be on hand to say a few words, including Mason Roberts, founder of Louisville Grows. The U of L Jazz ensemble featuring Mike Tracy will provide entertainment along with refreshments from some of our local partners. All attendees will be entered in a raffle for a chance to win a pint of Louisville Grows Honey harvested from the bee hives on our living roof.

“From Beechmont to Portland, from Shelby Park to Shawnee, Louisville Grows has spent 10 years helping grow greener healthier neighborhoods. It is important to us that the neighborhoods we’ve partnered with come celebrate what we have accomplished over the past 10 years and renew our commitment to keep growing and improving the environmental health of our community together over the next 10 years,” exclaims Executive Director, Ked Stanfield.

The open house will be the kick-off to our 2019 capital campaign to raise money for a greenhouse. Louisville Grows Seeds and Starts Sale has been a successful program ran from The Peoples’ Garden in the Shawnee neighborhood for the past 5 years.  Seeds and Starts is a program with a two-fold mission: 1) to have available low cost, organically grown plants available to the residents in their community and 2) to raise funds through the sale of the plants to fund Louisville Grows Community Garden grant program. The Louisville Grows’ grant program funds infrastructure projects and provides technical assistance at community gardens to increase their capacity and/or sustainability. Louisville Grows wants to build upon this success by installing a greenhouse in the vacant lot adjacent to Healthy House. 

Lauren Anderson, Co-chair of Louisville Grows’ Board of Directors, states, ”While we’re taking the time this year not only to celebrate our accomplishments; planting 3,000 trees all over Louisville and helping residents learn to grow their own food, we also want to celebrate our plans to expand and activate our Portland footprint by building a greenhouse next to our Healthy House. This greenhouse will help us to earn year-round revenue, increase opportunities for programming and partnerships, and create new ways for community members and volunteers to get their hands in the dirt. Through our mission of growing greener, healthier neighborhoods through urban agriculture and urban forestry, it is my aspiration that every child, parent, and family in Louisville can experience a true connection to nature – by playing in the shade of a tree that our citizen foresters helped them to plant or by tasting their first home-grown tomato of the summer.”  

Founded in 2009, Louisville Grows is an environmental nonprofit organization whose mission is to Grow Greener, Healthier Neighborhoods. Our neighborhood-based Urban Forestry program focuses on rebuilding the urban tree canopy with a goal of planting 1000 trees each year. Our Urban Agriculture program is designed to build capacity in community gardens by providing technical assistance, education and infrastructure. Healthy House features programs, workshops and classes that center on healthy living, healthy eating, environmental education or environmental equity. 

If you would like more information about Louisville Grows, contact Lisa Dettlinger at programs@louisvillegrows.org or visit our website, www.louisvillegrows.org.

For a PDF version of the release please click here