Delaware Nation Uses Grant to Build a Community Garden Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

Native American Tribe Uses AARP Grant to Build Community Garden

Coronavirus outbreak extends deadline for 2020 Community Challenge applications to May 15

Delaware Nation community garden in Anadarko, Oklahoma AARP , elevated so volunteers of all ages and abilities can help grow the produce, is one of 159 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that AARP helped financed in 2019 with nearly $1.6 million in seed money. Applications for this year's , the fourth year of the program, have been extended to May 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. "I believe this [garden] will help seniors and children come together because you can both work on it together,” says Bruce Gonzales, a Delaware Nation committee member. “Your elders have the knowledge. They've been doing this." Also part of the Delaware Nation's gardening project in Anadarko, Oklahoma, about 50 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, is education for tribal members on nutrition and healthier lifestyle choices, a grill and picnic tables to create a community gathering space around the garden, and use of the food in free breakfasts and lunches for the tribe's older members with few financial resources. Oklahoma’s Delaware Nation Plants Fresh Veggies Among other grants awarded in 2019 were these with ties to Native Americans: • In Alaska, the Cook Inlet Housing Authority developed a . • In South Dakota, the Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. on the Pine Ridge Reservation and those with varying mobility. Nonpolitical nonprofits and government entities are eligible to apply for the grants, which are intended to improve communities’ civic engagement, housing, public spaces, technology or transportation. Each project that receives a grant must complete the work by mid-December. The 2020 winners are scheduled to be notified the week after Independence Day, a date also moved because of the epidemic. Editor's note: This story, originally published March 2, 2020, was updated to reflect a new deadline and other dates for AARP's Community Challenge grants. MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS