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There are many ways that gardeners can help feed the hungry, from an extra row in your own garden to a community project. Here are some suggestions straight from the food pantry.
A few yards from a parking lot in the College of DuPage is a vegetable garden, about 5000 feet square. All the produce from this garden, several hundred pounds a week, is donated to a local food pantry to help feed the hungry. The garden was begun in 2003 as a joint service learning project of the Biology and English Departments, the outcome of an interdisciplinary course in literature and environmental biology. According to Professor Deborah Adelman, it was intended as a way to alter the consciousness of suburban students about the realities of food and agriculture, but it also become a major community service project as the student volunteers realized the value of the fresh produce they donated to the hungry.
With the recent sharp worldwide rise in the price of food, hunger is a growing problem everywhere. There are few communities, even in areas considered affluent, where some people do not have trouble putting nutritious food on their table. Food pantries exist to help with this need, but pantries need donations in order to operate. Many food pantries actively solicit donations from local gardeners.
At the COD garden, the student volunteers try to grow as wide variety of produce as possible. There is a great ethnic variety in the population of the DuPage area, and for every type of produce there are always patrons of the food pantry who will appreciate it. There are many varieties of peppers growing, several different summer squashes, many kinds of herbs. Now, as the summer growing season ends, they have planted fall crops of carrots, spinach, broccoli and lettuce. Of course, not every crop is successful in our zone; the volunteers mention celeriac as one vegetable they will probably not try again, and the project has given up corn after an infestation of corn root worms.
I spoke recently to Melissa Travis, Director of Food Services at the People's Resource Center, which operates the food pantry that receives the COD garden's produce. This is the largest food pantry in DuPage County, which served 1700 families in July. Fresh produce is constantly in demand. I had just delivered a sack of newly-picked apples from my trees, and the volunteers told me that they had just run out of apples, even though the harvest season in this area is well underway and apples are falling off the trees.
I asked Melissa what advice she would give to gardeners who are considering donating produce to a food pantry. She told me that while they are always glad to receive any donations, they would be happier to see other kinds of vegetables besides the usual summer overflow of tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini, even though these are the most popular with patrons. She mentioned spinach, lettuce, broccoli, and green beans as produce that would be especially welcome, as well as squashes other than zucchini, and new potatoes. She was happy to hear that I have a surplus of green onions that I am willing to donate. Fresh fruit is something they rarely receive and are always glad to see.
If you have a vegetable garden or fruit trees, an overabundance of strawberries in June or apples in the fall, do consider donating some of your excess produce to a local food pantry. Melissa made a point of assuring me that donations of any size are always welcome at the PRC pantry, even when someone comes with just a couple of tomatoes in a paper bag.
Before you load up your car, however, check to make sure the food pantry accepts fresh produce. Some smaller pantries, such as the one closest to me, do not have the room or the necessary refrigeration; they prefer to receive only nonperishable goods. Food pantries and soup kitchens often solicit donations and will specify what sort of foods they will accept, or you can call to ask.
Many pantries work with the "Plant A Row for the Hungry" campaign of the Garden Writers Association that helps publicize the need for donations of fresh produce. The Plant A Row campaign was born from one member's realization that if every gardener would only plant one extra row of vegetables, hunger could be greatly alleviated and the poor would have access to fresh food they might otherwise not be able to afford. When you begin to plan your vegetable garden for next spring, consider planting a little more than you need, an extra row of some high-yield produce such as green beans, carrots or green onions. There may be a Plant A Row campaign active in your community, with a participating food pantry. If not, you might consider starting one. The GWA website has material to help you get started.
Another worthwhile project, on a larger scale, is a community garden, much like the garden at the College of DuPage, where the produce is earmarked for a food panty or soup kitchen. Many towns make community garden plots available. If you belong to a garden club or a service organization, you might suggest that they consider such a project. In the Chicago area, the Daily Herald newspapers sponsor their own program called Giving Gardens, in which they encourage individuals and groups to establish gardens and donate the produce to participating food pantries. Schools, churches, scouts, and clubs have all grown gardens to help feed the hungry. Like the students at the College of DuPage, they have discovered that they can make a difference.
About Lois Tilton
Retired from writing novels about vampires, I'm turning to parasitic plants and invasive weeds.
Posted by Aunt_A (from Tulsa, OK) on October 03, 2008 at 11:17 PM:
Great article!
We had some extra grapes one year and donated them. I was embarrassed because it was just a small amount compared to the need. However, the workers were delighted to have fresh fruit to give. We left with our hands empty but our hearts full. In fact, my eyes were full and running over.
blessings,
April
...
Subject: Another article
Posted by LTilton (from Glen Ellyn, IL) on October 03, 2008 at 07:29 PM:
Here's coincidence! A local paper has an article on the same garden in today's issue.
Posted by Sundownr (from (Bev) Wytheville, VA) on October 03, 2008 at 08:46 AM:
Thanks for the reminder! I'll need to check our local food pantry to see if they can use some apples.
We have commercial growers that dump truckloads of surplus produce in a public area in town for anyone to take what they want. The huge piles of vegetables (usually potatoes) rarely last a day, and no one is made to feel needy. There are as many manicured hands as calloused hands gathering the free food, but where, or to whom, it goes is anyone's guess (I know for a fact most of it goes directly to the food pantries and the elderly)! Veggie “dump days” are cause for celebration and word travels very fast!
Thanks for the inspiring article!
Bev
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Posted by LTilton (from Glen Ellyn, IL) on October 03, 2008 at 10:01 AM:
I hate to see all the edible apples falling to the ground and ignored, when people don't have the money to buy them in the store.
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Posted by Pagancat (from (Sheryl) Gainesboro, TN) on October 03, 2008 at 10:16 AM:
Excellent idea - I'll contact the shelter in town this week to see if they accept perishable items.
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Posted by Sundownr (from (Bev) Wytheville, VA) on October 03, 2008 at 10:23 AM:
I agree! We put up a good bit this spring from the early apple trees, and gave away a bunch. Now the autumn apples are coming in, and I need to get them harvested before they become deer food.
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Posted by LTilton (from Glen Ellyn, IL) on October 03, 2008 at 11:11 AM:
My apples are harvested and a lot of them sauced, I'm working on pears now. I'll take in a load to the pantry next week, and maybe throw in some broccoli, of which there is much.
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Posted by dahlianut (from Calgary, AB) on October 03, 2008 at 11:18 AM:
Thanks so much for putting this out there to remind us that not all are as fortunate as we are. Most of the food banks here do not accept non-perishable items but the shelters do!!!
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Posted by darius (from So.Appalachian Mtns, VA) on October 03, 2008 at 11:42 AM:
Thanks for the reminder!
I'm not sure what food pantries are still operating in my small town. I found out last year when I had an abundance of winter squash that two are no longer functioning.
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Posted by LTilton (from Glen Ellyn, IL) on October 03, 2008 at 11:48 AM:
With this year's gardening season winding down in most parts of the country, it's a good time to start planning for next year, finding a place that can use fresh produce and asking what they most need.
Since green onions are easy for me to grow, I think I'll plant an extra row of them again [on purpose this time instead of inadvertently.]
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Posted by dahlianut (from Calgary, AB) on October 03, 2008 at 12:40 PM:
Hope all the herbies are checking this thread. I for one always have way more than I need to dry/freeze for the winter. They're a wonderful compliment to foodstuffs and greatly appreciated at the shelters so don't forget to take your extra herbs as well rather than let them freeze.
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Posted by summerkid (from Kankakee, IL) on October 03, 2008 at 02:58 PM:
I'm going to check to see whether they would take my homemade applesauce. Most of my unsprayed apples are too blemished for anyone to take "as is" -- but I cut them up for the usable chunks.
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Posted by quiltygirl (from Wildomar, CA) on October 12, 2008 at 10:30 AM:
Great article. I had hopes, when beginning my first veggie garden this year, to be able to donate after reading a similar article last spring. I did not have extra veggies past my own use (and my family does not go for veggies). Next year!
However, the article made me look at my environment differently. After picking y daughter up from the high school, we drive by a house with about a 1/2 doz orange trees and in season the trees are laden with oranges. I was thinking of stopping and asking the gentleman what he does with the oranges. We could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by having a group of kids from the school pick oranges and get their community service hours, then bringing the oranges to a local food pantry (churches also have food pantries that could use fresh items).
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Posted by LTilton (from Glen Ellyn, IL) on October 12, 2008 at 10:39 AM:
So many fruit trees are neglected and the fruit goes to waste.
A few yards from a parking lot in the College of DuPage is a vegetable garden, about 5000 feet square. All the produce from this garden, several hundred pounds a week, is donated to a local food pantry to help feed the hungry. The garden was begun in 2003 as a joint service learning project of the Biology and English Departments, the outcome of an interdisciplinary course in literature and environmental biology. According to Professor Deborah Adelman, it was intended as a way to alter the consciousness of suburban students about the realities of food and agriculture, but it also become a major community service project as the student volunteers realized the value of the fresh produce they donated to the hungry.
At the COD garden, the student volunteers try to grow as wide variety of produce as possible. There is a great ethnic variety in the population of the DuPage area, and for every type of produce there are always patrons of the food pantry who will appreciate it. There are many varieties of peppers growing, several different summer squashes, many kinds of herbs. Now, as the summer growing season ends, they have planted fall crops of carrots, spinach, broccoli and lettuce. Of course, not every crop is successful in our zone; the volunteers mention celeriac as one vegetable they will probably not try again, and the project has given up corn after an infestation of corn root worms.
Many pantries work with the 
