Elk Grove Living & Giving Community Garden holds Open House July 8th.

The Bob Lawson Living and Giving Community Garden is a partnership between Living Green in Elk Grove Village and Prince of Peace United Methodist Church.

The garden, initially created by Bob Lawson from Prince of Peace in 1996, had not been in use for a few years due to lack of volunteers. The Living Green in Elk Grove group was looking for space to start a community garden project. Thus, the partnership bloomed!

The primary goals of the garden are shared by both the church and the Living Green group; those being to provide fresh, organic produce to needy families in Elk Grove while building community and educating residents of all ages on the importance of growing your own organic food.

During the Open House on Saturday, volunteers explained how the entire garden was built completely by donations of garden supplies by residents and funding or material donated by local businesses like Addison Building Material, Berthold's, Bella Floral Home Décor, Sweet T's Bakery and Sebert Landscaping. In addition, local Girl Scouts have helped with planting and preparing for the Open House. University of Illinois Master Gardener, Kris McCabe, taught some classes in partnership with the Elk Grove Public Library in the "Teaching Green" bed.

Currently, there are 12 garden beds, with 10 of them solely for food pantry produce and two for church donations which include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, summer squash, winter squash and much more. There's also a "Teaching Green" bed for practice and education, as well as a container garden section primarily for cooking herbs and beneficial flowers. The garden is 100% organic by choice; no synthetic chemicals are used to grow the produce or to maintain the garden.

Garden Volunteers were thrilled to accept a generous donation from the Elk Grove Lioness Club at the Open House and look forward to building an additional bed for fall crops.