Plant a Row –or share your spare produce — for the Hungry
Got zucchini? And beans and cukes and more tomatoes than you can either use or foist on your neighbors? Good, because instead of leaving it on doorsteps or throwing that gorgeous, nutritious fresh stuff on the compost, you can donate it local families. Gardener and author Barbara Ellis is the Kent County coordinator for Plant A Row for the Hungry (PAR), which encourages vegetable gardeners to plant an extra row of virtually anything edible specifically to donate to needy families through food banks, soup kitchens and other community organizations. But you don’t have to dedicate a specific row. You can also just share what’s spare from your garden.
Begun fifteen years ago by the Garden Writers Association, the PAR program now boasts hundreds of groups throughout the US and Canada in urban, suburban and rural areas. PAR is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit so all donations are tax deductible. Ellis is coordinating Kent County’s program, which has so far donated nearly 100 pounds of fresh produce to the Chestertown Food Pantry. In addition to gathering the contributions of individual gardeners, Ellis also hopes to corral ‘gleaners’ to help harvest fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. Ellis asks that all donations go through her.
“Since the local food pantry is not normally equipped to handle fresh produce,” she says. Pick up is currently scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays at the Unitarian-Universalists of the Chester River Church. For more specifics contact Barbara W. Ellis at 410-778-6107 or [email protected].
Ann says
Thanks so much for highlighting this awesome program! It’s a worthwhile initiative and I hope it is a fantastic success.