COVID-19, supply costs proved too much for the Great Milwaukee Victory Garden Blitz this year

Victory Garden Initiative’s annual garden blitz has become a tradition to welcome spring.

For the past 14 years, scores of volunteers would span across Milwaukee County building raised wooden garden beds in residents’ backyards as part of VGI’s Great Milwaukee Victory Garden Blitz. The effort aims to increase access to healthy food, especially in neighborhoods lacking grocery stores.

But this year, the nonprofit canceled the event citing the lingering economic effects of the global pandemic. The blitz usually takes place every April and May.

“Covid-19 took a really hard hit on us,” said Chelsea Cross, VGI’s board president. “We had issues with funding. We had issues with staffing. We decided to take a pause on it so we could rebuild, refocus, re-envision how we wanted to ensure people in Milwaukee had a bed.”

The decision to cancel came down to capacity. In the last two years, the Harambee nonprofit had a change in leadership and lost key personnel who usually coordinate the blitz. They also had to decrease the staff for the 1.5-acre farm, as well as pause its youth and adult programming. Both focused on nutrition education, healthy cooking and gardening techniques.

“We weren’t operating at full capacity,” Cross said.

The organization gets many requests for garden beds, which Cross said takes a lot to coordinate. The new executive director, Dr. Sandra E. Jones, who was hired July and has been working pro bono,just didn’t have the bandwidth to tackle the blitz.

Compounding the issue are climbing costs for lumber and supply chain issues, which Cross said could have raised the overall cost of the beds.

“We didn’t want to increase the prices on people too much,” she said. “We didn’t want to go out there and do (the blitz) sloppily, or not reach enough people. We want this to be a successful event every year.”

Victory Garden Initiative was founded in 2009 to address food access by creating a socially just and environmentally sustainable food system. The garden blitz was an outgrowth of that mission. Since its founding, VGI has done 7,000 garden beds.

It saw a spike in garden bed requests during the pandemic. In 2021, 600 garden beds were installed, though that number fell to 350 last year. The increase, Cross said, resulted from the lockdowns, during which people were shut-in and grew food in their homes.

“They had the time. They were working from home. They didn’t have to go back to the office,” Cross said. “Last spring more people went back to the office. They were back in the grocery stores.”

Even with fewer staff, the farm still was able to distribute more food last year than in previous years. Cross estimated about 500 people were served through its youth programs, U-Pick Urban Farm initiative, where residents pick their own vegetables, and its food distribution program.

Instead of the blitz, the farm plans to ramp up the food distribution and outreach programs -- distributing more food to schools, residents and past blitz recipients.

To do that, they plan to be more strategic in their planting, relying on data to determine the type of vegetables residents preferred to prevent spoilage.

The farm couldn't be used to its full potential since its staff size decreased.

“We are trying to be a little more strategic on ensuring the foods that people want and need are available … and ensuring that if it is not picked … we distribute it as soon as possible while it is still fresh,” Cross said. “We are making sure that every single spot on the farm is being used.”

Adding to the farm’s financial woes, there were a lot of thefts. Equipment and tools, including a garden hose, have been stolen. Also, someone broke into the greenhouse and destroyed all the seedlings.

“That hurts us. That hurts what we can grow. That hurts how much we can grow,” Cross said.

She urged residents needing assistance to reach out to them so they can be a resource for them.

More: Harambee urban farms fill crucial void for Black, Latinx families during the pandemic

Urban farms are increasingly becoming the answer to food deserts in certain communities. Funders and philanthropic organizations need to realize this work requires operational funding to pay staff. The organization has four staffers, but Cross said it needs an additional six, including more farm hands and a program manager.

“It is not fancy to fund salaries, but a lot of times, I don’t think donors realize that a lot of grants are not operational,” Cross said. “The blitz won’t happen if we can’t hire a qualified person to manage the program. Those overhead costs, those administrative costs are what we are currently desperate for.”

With the help of a pro bono grant writer, the organization secured additional grants to “rebuild our financial situation,” Cross said. They are currently fundraising to support staffing costs. They recently received an Impact100 grant that will help to fund a new intern position and build a new cistern to improve the farm’s water infrastructure.

VGI also has resumed its youth and adult programs including its Chef-in-Training program with Riverwest Elementary School and the Move Grass classes for adults.

“We were not in the red anymore,” she said. “…But when the grant runs out and the donor runs out, we got a little scared. Although we had to pause some programs, there are new things happening here. We are still growing.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here's why the Great Milwaukee Victory Garden Blitz is canceled