How Does Volunteering Support a Local Food System?
Each month, we send out a newsletter exploring a different aspect of our work. Read our March 2026 newsletter to learn how using locally grown and saved seeds supports a local food system.
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We welcome people of ALL ages and backgrounds to participate in local food, no matter one’s abilities or experiences – volunteering is a way to enjoy how inclusive local food can be when we create spaces for everyone.
Local Food Connection
By Community Engagement and Farm Director Meg Boria-Meyer
Every week, upwards of 60 people come out to the Working Food Farm to tend to the land. We often refer to this space as a “community-led farm” because it is a place where neighbors come together to grow food for each other. Volunteers collaborate to grow and harvest organic produce that’s donated widely throughout Alachua County to make local food more accessible.
The Working Food Farm offers community members a place to directly engage in the local food system and contribute to our city’s natural spaces without the individual responsibility of sustaining the space.
Meet Matt: A regular volunteer at our farm, who recently shared why he comes out week after week.
“Volunteering is one of the few things you can do that sort of breaks out of the frame of ‘transactional,’” he said. “You’re not really expecting anything, but you’re giving in a way that is productive, and you feel like you’re doing something good for the community. Also, you’re making friends!”
Similar to Matt’s and others’ experiences at the Working Food Farm, many community members uplift our local food system by volunteering at other growing spaces in our county.
Nearby farms such as Siembra Farm and Nicoya Farm offer volunteering opportunities on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Volunteers often leave with a bounty of vegetables as a thank-you. Our friends at Grace Grows of Grace Marketplace offer volunteering to support horticulture therapy gardens that benefit campus residents.
Opportunities regularly arise to support other gardening efforts in our community – offering us all the chance to contribute to a resilient local food system. Your neighborhood may have a community garden that is already flourishing or may be waiting for some extra love to be poured into it!
Giving Gardens
By Seed and Garden Director Melissa DeSa
Over the years, so many individuals and groups have shown up to lend a hand at our seed gardens. Together, we care for three gardens at Grow Hub that produce year-round, tend a greenhouse full of seedlings, manage compost piles, run a seed cleaning operation, and steward our community seed bank.
Volunteers do it all: shoveling compost and manure, weeding, pulling out old plants, prepping garden beds, starting seeds, planting and trellising, washing bins, managing compost piles, harvesting, cleaning seeds, and packaging seeds for distribution.
Special shoutout to the staff at Grow Hub who are always happy to help when needed, like checking on our seedlings when we’re not there and helping fix broken water lines!
For the past few years, we’ve been especially lucky to have a dedicated Wednesday crew: Cyd, Isabel, and Alex. Seeing them each week is a highlight. Their reliable presence helps keep everything growing.
Cyd in one of our seed gardens at Grow Hub.
Cyd has been with us since 2012 when we were out in Micanopy, co-located with Alachua Conservation Trust. She then followed us through our move to Grow Hub in 2016. She still shows up with the same big smile and enthusiasm through all kinds of weather.
We love our mid-morning snack breaks, especially on hot days, when we pause, catch up, and strengthen the friendships that make this place what it is. Those moments of self-care and connection are part of what makes working together so fun.
We truly couldn’t do this work without our volunteers! They are part of every step of our seed journey—growing plants through their full life cycle, then cleaning and packing seeds for others to plant and enjoy. Volunteering here isn’t just about getting the work done—it’s about community.
Youth Growing Together
By Youth Education Director Jesse Wilson
Our youth programs are shaped by the volunteers who show up week after week. We typically work with a small cohort of two to five dedicated volunteers from the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. Many join us while completing capstone projects or earning course credit. But just as often, they come simply to seek connection to the local community.
Students in school often miss intergenerational spaces, family, shared meals, and a sense of greater purpose. The chance to be a part of the Gainesville community, and not just the UF community, is highly valued, and for good reason.
Volunteer Angela (right) at one of our youth gardens.
Youth Growing Together programs are built on consistency, and we rely on those who can commit to a full year. Our work is just as much about showing up as a reliable, caring adult as it is about planting seeds, exploring science, or making art.
We ask volunteers to commit to the same class each week because showing up consistently with young people is monumentally important. The relationships that grow in our garden are rooted in trust and take time to grow.
That consistency doesn’t go unnoticed. As one student shared recently: “One thing I like about the adults in the garden - if you come, like, mad or upset or something, they will actually sit down and ask you what’s wrong, and then by the end of the day you’ll be happy.”
For our volunteers, the experience is just as meaningful. One recent volunteer intern reflected: “Interning at Working Food during my last semester at UF was an absolute honor. I had the privilege of connecting and building trusting relationships with local youth, while being part of so many creative and educational programs. It didn’t just help me figure out my career path, it changed my perspective on work and life as a whole.”
Volunteering reminds me why it is worthwhile to show up, care deeply, and trust that what we grow and create together matters.
There are many ways to live in alignment with the causes we care about, even when our schedules are busy. While some have the capacity to donate to the organizations they believe in, others may contribute by lending a helping hand – which is just as valuable and impactful in creating the world we wish to live in.