HRHA’s Kelley Street Garden Launches with Community Build Day

Drills and saws whirled Saturday April 17 as community members, garden partners, HRHA staff and residents began building the Kelley Street Garden. The effort began in 2019, with funding coming initially from the Voluntary Gas Tax Group and then through a 2020 grant from JMU Dining and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. After some delays due to COVID-19, the HRHA team reconnected with community partners late 2020 to launch the garden program this year.

The Kelley Street garden holds 11 raised beds available to residents living in HRHA’s Harrison Heights. Families have already begun signing up and a few attended the work day to help build the garden. Jones Garden Inc helped coordinate, plan, and oversee the build day. Throughout the summer, Central Shenandoah Valley Master Gardeners will be coming in regularly to offer hands on education and workshops around planting, growing, harvesting, and more.

HRHA will be putting a fence around the garden in the next few weeks and we will have a grand opening and planting day mid-May. Stay tuned!

We are incredibly grateful to the community partners who helped make this garden possible. They have donated time, funding, labor, expertise, materials, and more:

The Voluntary Gas Tax Group
JMU Dining
The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities
The Central Shenandoah Valley Master Gardeners Association 
Jones Garden Inc. 
J P Remodel and Design
Lowes of Harrisonburg 
Black Bear Composting
Soil Health Technologies
Neff Lumber 
Designs by Landon Heavener 

And thanks to WHSV for coming out to cover the event!