A Decade of Planting the Seeds That Grow a Forest

The Grass River Garden Club of Delray Beach, Florida, 2026 Founders Fund Finalist Grant Supports Community Greening

June 17, 2026

By: Blair Robbins

In 2016, a nonprofit on a mission to increase South Florida’s tree canopy was formed in Boca Raton, Florida. Like any start-up, Community Greening (CG) needed seed money. The solution? They turned to The Grass River Garden Club (GRGC) of Delray Beach to help fund-raise. A decade and 26,000 trees later, CG was awarded $15,000 as a finalist for the GCA’s Founders Fund Award.

GRGC understood that trees clean the air, reduce heat, provide health benefits, lower energy costs, increase property values, and add beauty to neighborhoods. But GRGC was less familiar with another concern of CG: the inequitable distribution of trees in Florida’s urban areas. The GRGC agreed to assist CG by donating money and time, and raising awareness.

“The Grass River Garden Club helped Community Greening hit the ground running with our first project in 2017, when they helped us transform a neglected dump into an urban orchard in Delray Beach.  The orchard now is full of fruit trees for the community to pick,” says Mark Cassini, Executive Director and Co-Founder of CG. “GRGC’s members’ support has increased our capacity to plant and care for over 26,000 trees at parks, schools, and neighborhoods across South Florida.” 

Being a finalist for GCA’s Founders Fund Award is both an honor and a financial boon. The Award recognizes organizations that, in partnership with a GCA club, “stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening” and “restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and actions in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.”