Guests are served a gourmet meal on Saturday at the Homeless Garden Project’s annual Sustain Supper. A cohort of 80 generous volunteers guaranteed that the event ran smoothly. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Volunteer cook (and parking attendant) Meg Sandow grills potatoes in the Homeless Garden Project’s outdoor kitchen as the Sustain Supper gets under way. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Chef Katie Reicher hand-mixes a baby lettuce and strawberry salad at the Homeless Garden Project’s fundraising Sustain Supper on Saturday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Sustain Supper keynote speaker Manjula Martin is thanked for her words by Homeless Garden Project Executive Director Darrie Ganzhorn with one of the project’s signature dried flower wreaths. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Martin is the nationally bestselling author of “The Last Fire Season” and co-author, with her father, Orin Martin, of “Fruit Trees for Every Garden,” which won the 2020 American Horticultural Society Book Award. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Amber Parker and other volunteers bring out the salad course on Saturday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
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Guests are served a gourmet meal on Saturday at the Homeless Garden Project’s annual Sustain Supper. A cohort of 80 generous volunteers guaranteed that the event ran smoothly. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
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SANTA CRUZ — The Homeless Garden Project held its fundraising Sustain Supper on Saturday, with chef Katie Reicher leading the culinary feast.
Reicher, who volunteered to take charge of the supper, is the executive chef at San Francisco’s renowned Greens Restaurant. Diners enjoyed Reicher’s four-course meal at the event, which included Burrata toasts with balsamic cherries and spring rolls for appetizers, and a main course of grilled tofu brochettes with summer squash, peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms grilled with chipotle-lime marinade.
The Homeless Garden Project billed the dinner as a “celebration of sustainability and community,” and many of the ingredients were sourced from the project’s Natural Bridges Farm, where the supper was held. The Homeless Garden Project has a mission to “provide people experiencing homelessness with the tools they need to build a home in the world.” The endeavor works under the premise that gardening is essential for helping individuals heal, grow and thrive.
They work to make sure that the farm is a healing place to be for the trainees, providing a sense of purpose and control over one’s life, which is often missing for those who experience homelessness. The Homeless Garden Project began in 1990 as a place to provide sanctuary, refuge and meaningful work within the healing space of the organic farm. It has blossomed over time and supports the community through its CSA program, farm stand and crafts, which are sold at its Santa Cruz and Capitola stores and online. In 2024, 93% of the project’s graduates secured housing and jobs.
Originally Published: July 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM PDT