26 | AUGUST 4 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

F

or the previous two sea-
sons, Yad Ezra’s Giving 
Gardens program has 
thrived in its partnership with 
the nearby property owned by 
Our Lady of La Salette Church 
in Berkley by planting crops in 
their side lot, land referred to by 
them as the “Genesis Garden.
” 
 Due to the success of the 
partnership, the church has 
granted Yad Ezra permission to 
expand to the farming property 
around their old playground. 
Giving Gardens, a program of 
the Max M. Marjorie S. Fisher 
Foundation, is an integral 
part of Yad Ezra’s food pantry. 
Giving Gardens’ programs edu-
cate the community about the 
concept of farm-to-table food 
and offer resources and oppor-
tunities to encourage people to 
eat more fresh produce and be 
more self-sufficient.
The collaboration — even 

before the expansion — has 
allowed Yad Ezra to produce far 
more food for its clients than 
before and was also extremely 
helpful during the pandemic. 
“It gave us an opportunity to 
still have volunteers — because 
it was outside and we could 
socially distance and the space 
was larger,
” said Josh Gordon, 
Giving Gardens manager. “We 
were able to use that space to 
increase our volunteer count at 
a time when it was hard to find 
places to volunteer and to have 
volunteers inside.
” 
This year’s expansion takes 
place on the side lot of the 
property where the Genesis 
Garden already was along 
with the new playground 
side. The playground space 
sat vacant for a while on the 
campus of a school that’s no 
longer open. 
The expansion dramat-

 Almost 
Doubled

Giving Gardens adds more space to grow 
produce to feed the community.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF YAD EZRA

A view from the 
sky of Giving 
Gardens last 
year, before the 
expansion.

The new playground-
side garden space that 
is now open to Yad 
Ezra’s Giving Gardens.