Community Celebrates the East Tacoma Community Garden with Ribbon Cutting

Date: 08/23/24

The event honors this much needed local resource to increase access to healthy foods, for the eastside of Tacoma.

On Aug. 15, 2024, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD), the Eastside Family Resource Center, and Coordinated Care along with local elected officials including Tacoma Mayor, Victoria Woodards, and community partners celebrated the East Tacoma Community Garden with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The Eastside of Tacoma is known as a "food desert," which means access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is limited or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within a convenient distance. Coordinated Care has been a partner of TPCHD and the Eastside Family Resource Center for years to help make this garden a sustainable space. In addition to donating a shed to keep garden tools and gardener belongings safe and dry, staff have volunteered to prepare the space for neighborhood families to plant and enjoy the harvest.

"A lot of our population is financially constrained and food insecurity is often paramount to our members," said Coordinated Care President and CEO, Beth Johnson. "It's very important to Coordinated Care to make sure that we are supporting whole person care and food security so partnering on these types of projects and community gardens has really been instrumental to our work."

In addition to congratulating Coordinated Care staff and passionate community members like Jose Miguel from Esperanza Movil Family Resource Center who leads the garden efforts, Mayor Woodards spoke about the symbolic importance of a community garden.

"These gardens are sowing seeds into this community and when families have an opportunity to pick this food and share this food, they are then sowing seeds in the community," she said. "This is more than just food. It really is an opportunity to bind this community together even more…thank you so much for taking care of the community this way."

Other attendees included Tacoma City Council Member Sandesh Sadalge, Pierce County Council Member Marty Campbell and Tacoma City Council Member Jamika Scott.

The East Tacoma Community Garden is designed to support healthy living and provide a space where community members can learn about gardening and build stronger, safer communities by connecting people to each other and to their local food system.

Learn more about Coordinated Care’s commitment to whole person care and investing in local communities at https://www.coordinatedcarehealth.com/about-us/community.html