Urban Bounty is a registered charity dedicated to cultivating a resilient local food system through education, advocacy, and community building initiatives. We are based on unceded land in the stewarded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people and also unceded territory of the hən̓ ̓qəmin̓ əm̓ and Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh speaking peoples. 

We manage 18 community garden sites in Richmond and Burnaby. We also host volunteer events, teach educational workshops about sustainable food production, facilitate gardening for personal and environmental wellness, and more. 

Urban Bounty is a small team of staff working out of an office in Paulik Park, assisted by an amazing community of volunteers. We are also supported through partnerships with the Cities of Richmond and Burnaby, the Richmond Food Bank, and many more collaborators. 

We run 5 core programs:

  1. Community Gardens: We build and maintain safe, inclusive, welcoming community garden spaces to help people grow. Garden plots are located on public City land, and stewarded by a mixture of individual gardeners, community organizations, and volunteers. 
  2. Wellness in the Garden: Gardening has demonstrated benefits for individual and community health, which we promote through creating therapeutic, shared gardens and interactive events.
  3.  Urban Food Forestry: We coordinate volunteers to harvest from urban fruit trees to promote food access and mitigate food waste. We also plant and maintain Community Food Forests which are open to harvest by the public – inspired by permaculture teachings and by the long local history of Indigenous Coast Salish Forest Gardens. 
  4. Living Soil Land Stewardship: Soil is the foundation of any garden. We run educational programming on environmentally-sound techniques, such as composting and cover-cropping, to take care of soil so it takes care of us.
  5. Seed Security: Food security starts with seeds. We manage a Seed Library and Seed Donation program to increase access to high-quality, locally-adapted seeds in our community. We also run educational programs, demonstration gardens, and our annual March Seedy Saturday festival to empower gardeners to save seeds for climate resilience, food sovereignty, and our collective future.

History

We were initially established in 2002 by the Richmond Poverty Response Committee as the Food Security Task Force, which grew to become an independent society in 2009 called Richmond Food Security Society. In 2021 we changed our name to Urban Bounty. 

Within the community, our programs have sprouted passionate youth leaders, budding young cooks from low-asset backgrounds, happy gardeners, local seeds, and surplus fruit for those in need.

Throughout the years, we have hosted a number of fun events that inspire, educate, and connect fellow gardeners and locavores. One of our biggest annual events, the World Food Day celebration, has set a festive stage for food security advocacy and dialogue since 2005. In 2008, we organized the Food for All Dialogue, a food security conference that featured 28 speakers and sparked fruitful community conversations among 200 people, from experts to ordinary citizens. Since 2010, we have been hosting Seedy Saturday, an annual celebration dedicated to nurturing the tradition of growing from local seeds. Over the years, we have also held a variety of organic gardening, cooking, and canning workshops in our efforts to increase food literacy.

Our staff team is governed by a board of directors and supported by many volunteers. 

Several key documents inform our work: 

Past Annual Reports, Strategic Plans, and Financial Statements: