Metropolitan Volunteer Program

Urban Harvest

Urban Harvest’s mission is to cultivate thriving communities through gardening and access to healthy, local food possible.Through this initiative, Urban Harvest built two community gardens in Sunnyside, which at the time was Houston’s largest food desert. These gardens not only offer a space for residents to grow nutritious foods, they also offer a space for neighbors to gather together and build social cohesion.

Friends of the Houston Public Library

The Friends processes and scans books culled from Houston Public Library branches and donated by the community. They sell these books at our affordable quarterly book sales and all year-long on our Amazon storefront. They also recycle any damaged books through Waste Management, and offer others to local artists like the ever-creative Lee Steiner of Domestic Papers. They offer book donations to partner organizations all year long, and especially when we have a surplus of books.

Nora’s Home: Gardening

Nora’s Home offers solid organ transplant patients and their families an affordable place to stay in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) where they can find support and share experiences with others, in the comfort of a home-like environment. One of the amenities it offers to patients is its Healing Garden that requires your special touch any weekend throughout the spring and summer months. Join MVP on April 2 from 12-3 to help with basic gardening needs such as weeding, trimming, and planting. All tools will be provided and make sure to wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty!