Harper Grows is a community garden located at the intersection of the Ring Road and
Kris Howard Drive on Harper’s Main campus. The garden consists of six raised beds
that were installed to alleviate food insecurity by producing fresh, organic produce
for the campus pantry in Hawks Care Resource Center.
Hawks Care Coordinator Katie Butera reports, "The students express shock and joy that the faculty and staff have grown this for them. Access to fresh and frozen foods within our campus pantry has increased the weekly offerings we carry while giving us the opportunity to gather feedback from our student clients on preferences and popular items.”
The garden beds offer the following to the Harper community:
Nutrition Interns have partnered with Hawks Care and Wellness to compile nutritious recipes with commonly donated items.
March 10, 2026
After receiving help from Harper College’s Hawks Care Resource Center, nursing student Edith Mugisha began volunteering in the campus garden that supplies fresh produce to students seeking food support. Read More
Harper faculty and student assemble raised garden beds for Harper’s first community garden (April 2025).
Harper Grows is always looking for volunteers to assist with planting, watering, maintenance and harvest. Departments can host a bed for a course or activity, and organizations can partner with Harper Grows to support the garden or address food insecurity. Learn more and volunteer.
For more information, please email harpergrows@harpercollege.edu.
Here are some helpful tips for donating:
Harper Grows is an initiative that began in spring 2024 by Julie Ellefson (Emeritus, Chemistry, pictured left), Pearl Ratunil (English, pictured in the middle), and Ginger McHugh-Kurtz (Biology, pictured right). This community of faculty and staff gardeners and garden
advocates grew fresh produce in their home gardens and donated their surplus produce
to the Campus Pantry in the Hawks Care Resource Center.
Harper Grows estimated that they grew and donated roughly 100 pounds of fresh produce in their first season of donations.
In January 2025, Harper Grows, led by Ginger, Julie and Pearl, collaborated on a proposal for a community garden located on Harper’s main campus that would expand the scope of Harper Grows to include curricular opportunities for students to learn more about local food production.
In addition, the Harper Grows Community of Practice (CoP) was established through the Academy for Teaching Excellence to create curriculum that would support college learning outcomes for sustainability and equity. Their efforts were supported by a partnership with the University of Illinois Extension, who led a series of training courses on community garden installation and management. Members of Harper Grows and the Harper Grows Community of Practice attended three sessions to develop the necessary expertise to install the garden.
In March 2025, the Executive Cabinet approved a proposal to install a community garden on the main campus. On April 11, 2025, at the 16th Annual International Education Summit called “Building Sustainable Communities through Global Perspectives,” Harper Grows officially launched the Harper Grows Community Garden.
Harper Grows has donated almost 300 pounds of produce to Hawks Care Resource Center for the 2025 growing season. Approximately 40 volunteers, including faculty, staff, and students, have assisted in building the beds, adding soil/compost mix, planting, mulching, watering and harvesting. Garden beds are currently hosted by Harper Grows, Admissions Outreach, the Health Careers Division, and the Latine Health Sciences Club. Harper grows hopes to double the number of beds for the 2026 growing season and add an ADA bed.
Questions about donating fresh produce? Contact hawkscare@harpercollege.edu.