The Green Haven Project is an organization that creates urban community gardens in food deserts in South Florida. Founded by Jorge Palacios and David Roper, the original two-acre garden in Historic Overtown grows free and fresh produce, and also has a dry goods pantry. According to the American Heart Association of South Florida, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area has the highest number of people living in food deserts in the state. South Florida has 326 food deserts with an estimated one million people who live in them. The variety of fruits and vegetables grown in the Overtown garden include squash, cucumbers, mangos, bananas, moringa, collard greens, kale and mulberries. More than 10,000 people have been fed through the garden and food pantry in the past three years according to Roper and Palacios.
Photos by Sydney Walsh / Miami Herald
