INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An urban farming group is hosting a native plant sale this weekend to raise money for its operations.

Indy Urban Acres has been around since 2011, growing produce on public land. According to the group, it donates more than 60,000 pounds of food every year to food banks and other community resources.

Indy Urban Acres has held fundraising sales before, selling veggie starters, annuals and other native plants. This weekend’s sale will feature all kinds of plants native to Indiana like marigolds, milkweed and petunias. All plants will be sold for $5. A catalog of the plants available can be found here.

Tyler Gough, director of Indy Urban Acres, says this is the first time it will hold a sale dedicated to native plants.

“They are plants that support the biodiversity, the pollinators, all of the good things that come with a good ecosystem,” Gough said. “We’re actually doing a dedicated native plant sale to…kind of get those great plants out into the community to help us grow food, which is ultimately our mission.”

Money raised will support IUA’s mission to empower the community through food education and improving access to food.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got…a hunger problem, a food insecurity problem,” Gough said. “We’re just one of those places…that can help people. There’s lots of good food pantries, food banks, things like that, that are helping people. We’re farmers so we can actually plant grow and then give it away.”

The Indy Urban Acres Native Plant Sale will run both days from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. at 9067 E. 16th Street, down the block from Warren Central High School.

The location on East 16th Street is also the site of the future xx at Faith, a resource center born out of a collaboration between the Old Bethel and Partners Food Pantry, IUA, Warren Township Schools and the Jane Pauley Community Health Center.

Arin Schellenberg, food pantry director, says the new community health center will host an open house alongside the sale on Saturday.

“We’re so grateful for this partnership…all working together to serve our neighbors.” Schellenberg said. “We invite people to come over, walkthrough, see the space, see the site plans, meet the partners and just get a sense of what our plans are.”

The native plant sale runs from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

About Indy Urban Acres

Indy Urban Acres is run as an arm of The Parks Alliance of Indianapolis, a nonprofit that been around since 1991. CEO Rusty Carr says the nonprofit works alongside Indy Parks.

“We’re working on projects all across the ecosystem in Indianapolis,” Carr said. “That includes working on basketball court renovations, working on projects with partners to renovate family centers, really working [to] make sure that they are the highest and best for our residents and our visitors here.”