FUNKYTOWN FOOD FOREST AT NEW MOUNT ROSE PROUDLY PRESENTS: Build A Garden Box For The Block. Saturday, June 6, 2026 at 9am

BUILD A GARDEN BOX FOR THE BLOCK: One Garden Box. One Block. One Community. One Harvest at a Time.

By Staff Reports

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — What if a single garden box could help feed an entire community block?

That simple question is inspiring a movement in Fort Worth’s historic 76104 neighborhood.

On Saturday, June 6, volunteers from across North Texas will gather at New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church to participate in Build a Garden Box for the Block, a community-wide effort sponsored by the Funkytown Food Forest at New Mount Rose.

The goal is ambitious but achievable: volunteers will construct 10 new community garden boxes that will be installed at the Funkytown Food Forest located on the campus of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church.

Together, these garden boxes will expand the church’s growing food forest and create additional space to grow fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other healthy foods for families throughout Fort Worth’s historic 76104 community.

The vision behind the project is both simple and powerful:

One Garden Box Can Help Feed an Entire Community Block.

When neighbors work together to grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs, greens, and other fresh produce, a simple wooden garden box becomes something far greater than lumber and soil. It becomes a source of nutrition, education, fellowship, self-sufficiency, and hope.

When multiplied across the Funkytown Food Forest, these garden boxes become more than places to grow food. They become outdoor classrooms where children learn, gathering spaces where neighbors connect, and living examples of how communities can work together to address food insecurity.

For communities that have long struggled with limited access to fresh food, garden boxes offer a practical solution that begins literally from the ground up.

Each box represents an investment in healthier families, stronger neighborhoods, and a more sustainable future. Every seed planted is a step toward transforming a food desert into a thriving food forest.

Organizers believe that what starts with ten garden boxes today can become dozens tomorrow.

“As we multiply these boxes, we are planting more than vegetables,” organizers said. “We are planting hope, ownership, responsibility, and opportunity.”

The effort is part of the broader Funkytown Food Forest initiative, which seeks to transform Fort Worth’s historic South Side from a food desert into a thriving food forest.

Community churches, organizations, veterans groups, businesses, and volunteers are invited to participate in this effort by helping build, plant, maintain, and support the garden boxes throughout the growing season.

Local congregations are encouraged to embrace the challenge to “Adopt a Box and Plant a Lot.”

Supporters say small investments often produce extraordinary harvests. A single garden box may seem modest in size, but when multiplied across a community, it becomes a powerful tool for transformation.

The event will also feature a special appearance by Retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Tracy L. Brown Greene, National Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Greene served 22 years in the United States Army, including two combat deployments to the Middle East. During a 2016 deployment to Afghanistan, she survived a devastating suicide bombing attack at Bagram Airfield that nearly claimed her life.

Today, she continues serving veterans across the nation as National Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization dedicated to supporting service members wounded in combat.

Her participation underscores a central theme of the event: service comes in many forms.

Some serve on battlefields.

Others serve in neighborhoods.

Both strengthen communities.

Organizers hope military veterans, civic leaders, faith communities, families, and volunteers of all ages will join the effort.

“This event is about more than building garden boxes,” organizers said. “It is about cultivating opportunity, growing healthier families, strengthening neighborhoods, and creating a future where fresh food is accessible to everyone.”

And it all begins with one powerful belief:

If One Garden Box Can Help Feed an Entire Community Block, Imagine What Ten Garden Boxes Can Do.

Join us as we build, plant, grow, and harvest hope together.

BUILD A GARDEN BOX FOR THE BLOCK

Saturday, June 6, 2026

9:00 A.M.

New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church

2864 Mississippi Avenue

Fort Worth, Texas 76104

Event Themes

• Feed the Block From a Garden Box

• Loyal to the Soil

• Turning Food Deserts into Food Forests

• We Help As We Heal

Special Guest:

Retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Tracy L. Brown Greene

National Commander

Military Order of the Purple Heart

Information

David Ramos

561-381-1283

Donations

Zelle: newmtrosembc@gmail.com

Funkytown Food Forest at New Mount Rose

“Growing Hope One Garden Box at a Time.”