Our Mission 

Two girls working with potted plants inside a greenhouse, one taking notes on a clipboard while the other observes the plants.

Giving Hope Gardens is committed to inspiring self-confidence and personal autonomy in adults with special needs .

Two people planting flowers in a small garden bed on a city sidewalk, wearing bright yellow safety vests.
Group of young people at a craft activity, painting and decorating bottles, in a brightly colored room at a camp or workshop.

Planting Seeds for a Brighter Future

Every raised bed full of greens, every customer met with quality service, and every adult seeking the chance to forge a trail of their own makes our community a more conscious one…and thus, a more empowered one. Since 2019, Giving Hope Gardens has opened their gates to adults with special needs with a promise for free access to hands-on work experience and life-skills practice. Over the years, we’ve achieved this in several ways:

-0n-site, where interns develop their customer service skills and best plant-care practices to help operate our small nursery business. They also participate in learning sessions which revolve around life skills such as money management, self-care, career exploration and more.

-Locally, (in cooperation with other local businesses and partners), where interns are able to employ the skills they develop on-site in various off-site work environments such as performing janitorial work at a laundry plant and doing landscape-upkeep downtown for the city.

-Community Based Instructions (CBI), in which interns take a monthly trip to use the donations they’ve raised through their work at the gardens and from local businesses as mentioned above to practice social engagement and just have fun! These CBIs range from taking a trip to the movies to going to the museum, to preparing a picnic in the park.

GHG uses the power of teamwork and hands-on learning to work with the needs and desires of each individual adult.

Program FAQs

  • We hold programming from 9:00am to 2:00pm Tuesday-Friday. Our retail hours are 9:00am-3:00pm Tuesday-Friday and 9:00am-12:00pm on Saturdays. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays.

  • Stop by and grab an application! Someone will be able to talk to you about what we offer and address any questions you may have. Once we meet with the potential intern and the application is completed, our staff will review it and contact you with options for a good time to come by and try us out!

  • Unfortunately we are not currently able to provide transportation for interns. As we grow we do hope to be able to provide this in the future!

  • Swing by and fill out a quick application. You will speak to our program director about the things you’re interested in helping out with and they will pass your application on to the program coordinator so they can give you a call. From there we can decide on a good time for you to come try us out!