Capper Foundation is a National Finalists in the 2022 National Garden Bureau Therapeutic Garden Grant Contest

Capper Foundation is one of two national finalists in the 2022 National Garden Bureau Therapeutic Garden Grant Contest. The winner will receive $3000 and garden tools. Vote by September 30 at https://ngb.org/therapeutic-garden-contest/.

Capper Foundation’s gardens consist of raised beds on a corner of their Topeka, Kansas campus, as well as raised and flat garden beds including many sensory components in their inner courtyard and container gardens at their residences. Pediatric therapists use the gardens to work on fine motor, gross motor and communication skills during individualized therapy sessions with the children. The adults they serve work alongside staff and volunteers to prepare and plant the gardens and care for them throughout the growing season. They also use the vegetables and herbs grown in the gardens in cooking classes offered at Capper. Staff, volunteers and persons served also have the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the beauty of the garden spaces. With the grant funding, additional sensory components for the courtyard gardens, including plants and outdoor musical instruments, as well as containers, plants, seeds, and specialized container garden soil for all of the gardens will be purchased.

Started in 2014, the Therapeutic Garden Grant is a philanthropic program of National Garden Bureau that supports therapeutic gardens across North America. Again this year, National Garden Bureau, American Meadows, and Sakata Seed America are partnering to provide grant money to be split between two therapeutic gardens – Capper Foundation (Topeka, KS) and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital (Grand Rapids, MI). Corona Tools will send an assortment of tools to both finalists.