“ People make events into stories.
Stories give events meaning. ”
- Scarlett Thomas
Stories give events meaning. ”
Upcoming Events
Location: Homeless Garden Project Farm
When: Monday, January 20, 2025
Time: 9:30 AM – 2:00 PM
•Hands-On Activities: Help with meaningful projects on the farm, such as planting, weeding, and preparing the space for the growing season.
•Community Connections: Work alongside other community members who are passionate about making a difference.
•Reflection and Inspiration: Reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and its impact on our community and beyond.
•Shared Meals: Enjoy refreshments to fuel your efforts (details on food to come!).
LEARN MORE AND RSVP ON FACEBOOK
Past Events
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Homeless Garden Project Invites You to Celebrate Hope & Renewal this First Friday at our Downtown Store
The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) is thrilled to announce a special First Friday event at our Downtown Store, celebrating new beginnings, community partnerships, and the spirit of hope. Join us for an evening of festivities!
Event Details:
Date: Friday, October 4, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Special presentation at 7:00 PM
Location: 1338 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, next to El Palomar
This event marks a significant milestone for HGP as a new California state grant empowers us to expand our social enterprise and continue providing
transformative job training and employment opportunities for individuals
experiencing homelessness.
Event Highlights:
- New Products Unveiled: Be among the first to preview our expanded line of handcrafted, locally made products for the holiday season—each item a symbolof hope and renewal.
- Store Redesign: Check out our newly refreshed store, featuring a modern, welcoming atmosphere that reflects the growth of our mission and enterprise.
- Special Guests:
- Mayor Fred Keeley, City of Santa Cruz
- Office of Supervisor Justin Cummings, Santa Cruz County
- Charles Stange, HGP Production Trainee, sharing his personal HGP journey
- Wendy Ballen, First Friday artist showcasing her unique and special work
- Free Refreshments: Enjoy a lively evening with craft beer donated by Humble Sea Brewing, locally-sourced wine, and samples of HGP products using produce grown on the HGP's organic farm.
“Give the Gift of Hope” this holiday season by supporting the Homeless Garden Project. Together, we can cultivate a brighter future for all.
We look forward to celebrating with you!
Sustain Supper - July 20, 2024
Join us for an evening of connection, celebration, and delicious food at our Summer Sustain Supper on Saturday, July 20 from 3:30-6:30pm! The event will begin with an optional farm tour at 3:30pm, appetizers and wine at 4:15pm, and will feature a delightful, multi-course summer feast, utilizing produce grown on our farm in our programs, prepared by Chef Reylon Agustin of Sierra Mar in Big Sur. In addition to the signature farm-to-table meal, the event will feature local beverages, live music, and an engaging program of speakers, including our keynote speaker, Anne Kapucsinski, Director of UCSC’s Coastal Science & Policy Program and Board Chair of Union of Concerned Scientists.
Click here for tickets and more info!
Cesar Chavez Day of Service
Get ready to roll up your sleeves and join the Homeless Garden Project for a fun-filled day of service in honor of Cesar Chavez on Sunday, April 14! No registration required. For more information, please go to the event's Eventbrite page. See you there!
MLK Day of Service 2024 - Monday, January 15
**In case of rain, the event will move to January 20th. Please visit the HGP Facebook event to RSVP and for up to date information.
You are invited to HGP's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on the farm. As a small production farm, we adjust our farm tasks depending on what the weather allows us to work on, so please come prepared with the flexibility to work on different tasks.
For safety, everyone must come with closed-toe shoes, and we recommend that everyone wear a hat, layers and bring a water bottle. Lunch will be provided. No registration required. Questions? Please contact info@homelessgardenproject.org
Fall Sustain Supper - Saturday, October 28, 2023
Join us for an evening of connection, celebration, and delicious food at our Fall Sustain Supper on Saturday, October 28 from 3:00-6:30pm! The event will begin with passed appetizers and wine at 3pm, and will feature a delightful, multi-course fall feast, utilizing produce grown on our farm in our programs, cooked by a team of area chefs. In addition to the signature farm-to-table meal, the event will feature local beverages, live music, a farm tour and an engaging program of speakers, including our keynote speaker, Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer-prize reporter and author of Smarter Faster Better and The Power of Habit.
For tickets and more info: https://bit.ly/FallSupper
Sustain Supper - Saturday, June 17, 2023
We are so pleased to once again gather together in community and host a Sustain Supper at Natural Bridges Farm. This event will take place on Saturday, June 17, beginning with passed appetizers and wine at 4pm, and will feature a delightful, multi-course meal, utilizing produce grown on our farm in our programs, cooked by a team of area chefs. In addition to the signature farm-to-table meal, the event will feature local beverages, live music, a farm tour and an engaging program of speakers, including our keynote speaker, Dick Peixoto, owner of Lakeside Organic Gardens, the largest family-owned and operated solely organic vegetable grower/shipper in the USA. We are delighted to have Dick Peixoto on the farm!
You can learn more about Dick Peixoto, the event and purchase tickets HERE.
Cesar Chavez Day of Service & Plant Sale - April 15, 2023
Join the Homeless Garden Project for a Day of Service in Honor of Cesar Chavez. We'll gather at 9:30 am and work until 2:00 pm. Get your hands into the dirt and help us work on some spring tasks! We'll break to share lunch together; lunch will be provided. The speaking portion of the event begins at 12:30. As a small production farm, we adjust our farm tasks depending on what the weather allows us to work on, so please come prepared with the flexibility to work on different tasks.
HGP will also be hosting a Plant Sale with certified organic vegetable, flower, and herb starts.
For safety, everyone must come with closed-toe shoes, and we recommend that everyone wear a hat, layers and bring a water bottle. No registration required. Questions? Please contact info@homelessgardenproject.org
HGP Holiday Celebration - December 1, 2022
Resource Center for Nonviolence | 612 Ocean St, Santa Cruz You are invited to HGP's annual holiday celebration, this year hosted at the Resource Center for Nonviolence. We'll celebrate all of our trainees' successes this year, with delicious holiday treats and beverages, followed by an engaging program. We're so excited to screen the inspiring documentary, Mission: JOY and have a discussion following the film with co-author of The Book of Joy, Douglas Abrams.
The Sustain Supper Returns - July 23, 2022
We are so excited to invite you to our next Sustain Supper on Saturday, July 23rd with keynote speaker, author/chef Bryant Terry!
Please join us at HGP's Natural Bridges Farm for a delightful evening of delicious food and wine, as well as informative and engaging talks in support of HGP's proven transitional employment program. Inspired by Bryant's work and to allow our Farm to shine on the plate, this event will be vegetarian, with many vegan options as well.
We are so excited to offer the next in our Sustain Supper series, this will be the first in-person Supper since 2019. As Christina Waters wrote in the Good Times about the Sustain Supper series, "... few events of the summer do more to capture all that's best about our region...this annual event belongs on everyone's calendar."
You can learn more about Bryant, the event and purchase tickets HERE.
The Sustain Auction: A Spring Reception and Fundraiser
You are invited to join HGP for a delightful evening of good food, good wine, good gifts and good cheer in support of HGP's proven transitional employment program. Featuring delicious bites on our Farm, as well as light refreshments and wine along with a live auction and an entertaining program.
This is the new event from the postponed December 2021 First Friday Auction. If you bought tickets to that, they are still good!
You can learn more about our April event and purchase tickets HERE.
Fighting for Housing in America: Conor Dougherty, author of Golden Gates, in conversation with Jonathan Franzen
Thursday, April 7, 6:30-8:00PM
Join Conor Dougerty, author of Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America, and Santa Cruz writer Jonathan Franzen in a conversation about the complex social and economic factors driving housing--and homelessness--in America.
The event is free. Registration is required, please check back for a link.
Conor Dougherty is the author of Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream, a nonfiction book about the nation's affordable housing problems told through a cast of characters in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an economics and housing reporter at The New York Times. He grew up in the Bay Area and lives in Oakland, Calif., with his wife and two children.
Jonathan Franzen is the author of six novels, including "Crossroads," published in October 2021, and five works of nonfiction, most recently “The Kraus Project” and “The End of the End of the Earth.” Franzen is the recipient of a National Book Award for fiction, the EuroNatur Prize for his work in conservation, and the Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities. He has been part of the Santa Cruz community since 1998.
Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America, by Conor Dougherty is A Time 100 Must-Read Book of 2020 • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • California Book Award Silver Medal in Nonfiction • Finalist for The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism • Named a top 30 must-read Book of 2020 by the New York Post • Named one of the 10 Best Business Books of 2020 by Fortune.
Cesar Chavez Day of Service
Saturday, April 2, 9:30 AM-2:30 PM
Join the Homeless Garden Project for a workday on the farm in honor of Cesar Chavez on April 2 from 9:30AM - 2:30PM
Join the Homeless Garden Project for a workday on the farm in honor of Cesar Chavez. We’ll gather at 9:30 am & work till 2:30 pm. We'll also be kicking off our local community participation in the nationwide 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Food Challenge.
Cesar Chavez was a civil rights leader, a labor and community organizer, a champion of nonviolent social change, an advocate for the environment, consumer rights, and education. Chavez labored as a migrant worker in California, where he was exposed to the injustices of life. Using nonviolent and grassroots tactics, Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later known as the United Farm Workers Union). California celebrates his birthday at the end of March to honor the many victories his activism brought to these communities.
Chavez’s motto, "Si se puede!" ("Yes, it can be done!"), coined during his 1972 fast in Arizona, embodies the legacy he left for people around the world, one which inspires the work of the Homeless Garden Project every day. His work and legacy transcend any single cause or struggle.
We have several different tasks available at the farm. As a small production farm, we adjust our farm tasks depending on what the weather allows us to work on, so please come prepared with the flexibility to work on different tasks!
For safety, everyone must come with closed-toe shoes, and we recommend that everyone wear a hat, layers and bring a water bottle.
The farm is located on Shaffer Road at Delaware Ave., on the west side of Santa Cruz near Natural Bridges State Park and the Long Marine Lab.
Questions? Email: volunteer@homelessgardenproject.org
