Local Whole Foods Market Donates to L.A. Community Garden Council

Whole Foods Market donated $2,606.35 to the Los Angeles Community Garden Council Thursday afternoon to benefit local community gardens. Councilman Paul Koretz held a gathering at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino to join Whole Foods in presenting the check to the council.

The donation was a result of the market's Community 5 Percent Day, held in April at the Sherman Oaks Whole Foods at 4520 N. Sepulveda Blvd. The store donated 5 percent of the day’s net sales to the Los Angeles Community Garden Council.

The Los Angeles Community Garden Council is a nonprofit organization involved with outreach, education and advocacy for community gardens. Kevin Coogan, marketing supervisor at Whole Foods Market, said community gardening aligns with the company’s commitment to the local community and the environment.

“The donation is to the L.A. Community Garden Council, and we just ask that it be used as close to the facility of our store as possible to stay within the community and determine the best and most immediate needs for those gardens,” Coogan told Encino Patch.

The Sepulveda Garden Center on Magnolia Boulevard has more than 800 gardening plots on 20 acres. It is the largest of nine community gardens operated by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and the closest to the Whole Foods Market in Sherman Oaks.

“Los Angeles devotes very little taxpayer money to the community gardens, and they return abundant neighborhood benefits,” Koretz said during the presentation. “The Sepulveda Garden Center here in Encino is a shining example.”

The donation comes at a time when some community gardeners need it most. The city’s Department of Recreation and Parks increased the annual rent for each 10-by-20-foot garden plot from $25 to $120 to offset budget cuts to Recreation and Parks. Many local gardeners say they won’t be able to afford their plots at the new price.

Though the council has not decided how it is going to use the money, one idea is to help subsidize the annual plot fees for low-income residents, according to Glen Dake, who accepted the donation on behalf of the council.

“The L.A. Community Garden Council is a nonprofit organization, so we’re going to deposit it in our account and we’re going to have discussions with the steering committee of the Sepulveda Garden and ask them to collaborate with us on how to disperse it,” Dake told Encino Patch.

“My hope is that we’ll continue a relationship with the council and this garden [Sepulveda Garden Center] in particular,” Coogan told Patch. “I trust that the organization will use the money wisely.”