Growing food in raised beds throughout a community, involving anyone and everyone in the process, bears all kinds of fruit — literally and figuratively.

Some of the food nurtures us physically, and growing the food can help people grow socially and emotionally, too. The Orange-based Grow Food Everywhere program, which has established 50 public raised beds for growing vegetables, has shown that something as simple yet subtle as growing vegetables in a miniature community garden can yield many benefits.

Grow Food Everywhere was organized by Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, as a volunteer effort that teaches residents about growing their own food and allows them to carefully pick vegetables when ready to harvest from the raised beds. But it’s so much more.

The dozens of beds are located throughout town, including outside the Orange Innovation Center, Wheeler Memorial Library and Quabbin Harvest. Tending to the plants is a crucial community-oriented collaboration, a hallmark of Seeds of Solidarity.

“The purpose (of the beds) is to help add beauty to the community, to help educate people about what different food looks like growing, and to invite people to take some of the food that is growing,” Deborah Habib, executive director of Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, has explained.

In partnership with schools, local organizations and residents, the center has over the years built more than 50 raised beds throughout the North Quabbin region, including at Athol Hospital, the West River Health Center and Orange Food Pantry. The idea came from a desire to educate individuals on the importance of access to healthy food, and to teach them the skills needed to tend to their own plants.

But it turns out there’s more to growing vegetables than meets the eye.

Helen Franchi, a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act youth program specialist in Orange, has been partnering with the center for five years. On nice days, you can find her, along with young people from her workforce development program, gardening at the Wheeler Memorial Library garden bed. Being outdoors fosters meaningful conversations, she said, a significant aspect of her mentorship.

Her program, as part of Community Action, which offers leadership, advocacy and resources for children and families, aims to provide local 17- to 24-year-olds with educational and occupational explorations and training. But, she said, working at the bed outside the library builds upon the skills young people need to succeed.

“You need to be able to nourish yourself and eat well to work well,” she said. “It is not just about dressing for the interview and answering the right questions, it is about taking care of yourself so that you can be your best self when you’re at work.”

At the end of the season, Franchi said the food from the library garden is harvested with help from young people and used for a community dinner, where members of the program can discuss their recent work experiences.

Rebecca Bialecki, vice president for community health and chief agent of change at Heywood Hospital, says Quabbin Retreat’s relatively new partnership with the center has allowed patients to get outdoors, as well, and to learn more about mindfulness along the way.

“We are raising awareness about making contact with the earth, being grounded and really looking at recovery as a health and lifestyle choice. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to eat really healthy food; you can make it available in your backyard,” she said.

Grow Food Everywhere teaches people how to transform hunger to health and to create resilient communities, says Habib.

“We need to continuously send the message that everyone deserves good, fresh food and that gardens can help beautify and revitalize every community. The whole idea is that it is possible to grow food anywhere or everywhere,” said Habib.

Habib and her program deserve lots of credit for fostering such an innovative and deceivingly simple way to improve the quality of life for so many.