We’re excited to kick off our 2025 Garden Get Down Awardees Series by featuring our Resilient Community Growers awardee: Penn Hills Community Garden. This is the first in a series of spotlights leading up to Grow Pittsburgh’s 20th anniversary celebration on August 19! We’re excited to be honoring some of our community’s most dedicated growers and fresh food champions at this year’s Garden Get Down.
As a project of the non-profit Penn Hills Community Development Corporation since 2010, the Penn Hills Community Garden strives to build healthy relationships between members, the community, and the environment through growing and sharing food, friendship, and knowledge. More than a garden, this group is growing community in Penn Hills. Grow Pittsburgh began working with the Penn Hills Community Garden in 2011, as one of the earliest gardens supported by our program.
Now in its 15th year, the Penn Hills Community Garden has grown from just 16 beds in 2010 to an impressive 108-bed allotment-style garden, supporting 93 members and a food donation program that’s become a cornerstone of the garden’s mission. Over the past three years, the garden has donated an impressive 5,500+ pounds of fresh produce to community partners like the Forbes Hospital Healthy Food Center, Wilkinsburg Community Ministry, Penn Hills Service Center, and Penn Hills Search and Rescue.
“It’s a real group effort,” says Sara Snatchko, the garden’s President. “The garden grows the food, but others deliver and distribute it. It’s a whole ecosystem of people that makes this happen.” And that ecosystem includes the Penn Hills municipality government and its community members. “We’re so blessed to have this incredible support. It’s great to see the community part of it, that’s what it’s all about.”
Sara shared that the garden also regularly receives volunteers from youth groups and 412 Food Rescue, plus resources from the Penn Hills Shade Tree Commission and Grow Pittsburgh. “Volunteers really help us out, and they just love it. They get to be outside and feel good about feeding people. I think right now it’s important for everyone to have access to fresh food, especially with food being so expensive.”
The garden accepts new members annually in late winter and they’re always looking for ways to invite the community into their space. Keep an eye on their social media for announcements about workshops, pizza parties, and volunteer days.
“I think during COVID, we really learned the importance of having public spaces where people could go and get fresh air and be at a good distance from each other,” Sara added. “I think when a space is cared for and beautiful and preserved, it makes people feel cared for too.”
Grow Pittsburgh is pleased to honor the Penn Hills Community Garden at this year’s Garden Get Down for their dedication to food security for all residents of the community. Join us on August 19th to celebrate these community growers and the rest of this year’s Get Down Honorees.
