Harvest Festival Celebrates Omaha Nonprofit's Food Security and Education Mission

All events in the metro area this October.

The event, held Saturday in North Omaha, focused on celebrating Big Garden’s commitment to feeding those in need.

The Harvest Festival featured music, games, crafts, costume contests, spooky scavenger hunts, garden-fresh Chilean cuisine and more. The celebration was held at the nonprofit’s site with offices and gardens in a neighborhood near North 56th Street and Sorensen Parkway.

Marketing and communications manager Sara Atkins-Rauwald said the nonprofit’s staff and board were excited about the festival’s return, as Big Garden did not hold an event in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he does.

“We really wanted to reopen the campus…and let the neighborhood know we were here,” she said. “And to gather everyone together to celebrate a bountiful harvest.”

Big Gardens originally received a grant from the US Department of Agriculture in 2005 to build 12 urban gardens, explained executive director Thomas Neal. Since then, the nonprofit has worked with schools, churches, and other organizations to create more than 200 of his community gardens in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa.

According to Neil, Big Garden’s mission is to teach, build and grow. The organization sends people to local schools with community gardens to teach children the art of gardening. Neil said he has donated more than two tons of food to those in need.

“We’re trying to do a little bit of both. There’s emergency food production. It’s kind of ‘feeding people fish,'” said Neil. , we are breaking that cycle of food insecurity by going to the classroom. ”

At Saturday’s event, Big Garden sold bouquets of fresh flowers from the garden as a fundraiser. and listened to live performances of parfaits.

Scott Quinn and his wife Madeline said they brought their three children to Saturday’s event.

“I really love their mission and what they’re doing for Omaha, what they’re doing for education, and what they’re doing for food security,” he said. We wanted to support them, but it’s also a fun, kid-friendly and family-friendly event.”

Marcee Binder, a board member of The Big Garden, joined the nonprofit because she appreciates the work being done to ensure fresh fruit and vegetables are available to everyone. said. She said she thought the event was a good way to connect with the community.

“I like the fact that people can go out and see what the garden is doing,” she said. “It’s good to have people on campus.”