Program History

Hope Outreach Food Bank Garden

This garden was started in February of 2019, with three garden beds (5 x7) and a banana circle. We’ve expanded it to a total of 8 garden beds (5 5’x 10’ and the original 3) and added a herb spiral, a butterfly garden and a vine growing tripod made from local bamboo.

We haven’t been keeping consistent records, but will begin tracking harvests starting with fall of 2020. Throughout the growing season, we average 2-3 reusable grocery bags of fresh greens, herbs, tomatoes and more to the food bank every week. We’ve also got a pretty good banana production going. One banana harvest can easily yield 25+ pounds, and a good banana circle can produce 8-15 harvests a year.

So many people have contributed to this garden. We grow at Marando Farms. Tree Amigos Growers has been a consistent and generous donor of starter plants, soil and soil amendments. Samuel Chillaron designed the first beds and banana circle, and was lead person on both of those projects. Geraldine Slomianski served as Garden Manager for the first season of 2019. Lee Cicchella and Stacey Smith of Paradise Found Landscaping have kept the irrigation working. Jason Culberson consistently shows up and helps us with construction projects like compost circles. There are so many more- too many to mention. If you go to the FB page, you can see them there. (include FB link) You can sign up to volunteer for any of our programs right here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScM0Nik6sHYcAjSR7JBOGHgmnI3LvuFsXdjdjwzEfDmhJTyZQ/viewfor

Davie Community Garden

We started the Davie Community garden in late February of 2020. We installed a food forest, a banana circle and a butterfly garden. Shortly after that, lockdown began and we no longer had access to Robbins Park, where the garden was hosted.

Fortunately, the Town of Davie made sure that the area was watered and maintained, and we were happy to see that most everything was growing well.

The community garden also has plots for rent, and they are all filled for the season. We also have two raised beds for those who can’t get to the ground.

This will be a teaching garden as well as providing food for community. We are deeply grateful to the Town of Davie for their unwavering commitment to sustainability and agriculture, and look forward to partnering with them in the future to expand these projects.

Current Project Leadership

Alejandra Jeldrez

Garden Organizer, Alejandra Jeldrez is a mother of 2 who works from home. She sells hand stamped jewelry and seeds on Etsy. Her passions are helping others, spending time with friends and family, crafting and of course gardening. She believes everyone deserves access to healthy and affordable food and that you can grow food anywhere. She loves experimenting growing methods in her tiny patio garden and learning how to grow food in tight spaces.

Jessica Vella

Alejandra Jeldrez

Garden Manager, Jessica Vella is a homeschooling mom of three children, and a hairstylist and makeup artist. She loves getting her hands dirty in the HOPE Outreach Food Bank Garden every week, and believes that working the soil is therapy. She is very passionate about food injustice and food apartheid and hopes to play a small part in big change. When time permits, she loves to educate herself on medicinal herbs, growing food and all things permaculture.

Aleena Hayatt

Alejandra Jeldrez

Aleena Hayatt

Social Media Director, Aleena Hayatt is a graphic designer who was raised in Cooper City and Davie. She volunteers her time in managing the social media channels for HOPE Outreach Food Bank Garden. She enjoys spending time in the garden and taking classes to learn more about gardening and sustainability.