In 1963 when the doors first opened, Melwood established a garden center at its main campus. As it celebrates its 60th Anniversary, Melwood seeks to relocate its garden center to the Melwood Recreation Center in rural Nanjemoy, Maryland. This project allows Melwood to replace its antiquated greenhouses with three new state-of-the-art commercial greenhouses, allowing participants to gain work experience using modern-day irrigation systems and tools making them more competitive when seeking work at commercial nurseries and garden centers. Melwood is seeking support to cover construction costs.
Additionally, Melwood will be able to leverage its new location to help address food insecurity in Charles County. There are roughly 14,000 food insecure people in Charles County – that is, nearly 1-in-10 residents . And sadly, nearly half of them are ineligible for aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Melwood will leverage a portion of its capacity each year to grow fresh produce to stock food pantry programs throughout the county.
