[Community_garden] Plant A Row for the hungry

[Alliums]

Hi, Folks!

The Biblical Tithe (10% of the harvest donated to someone in need or an
agency) is one of our requirements (the other is that you have to grow
organically).

We belong to a couple of local umbrella organizations, but the bottom line
is that our folks either donate directly (we have two elderly church ladies
at two different churches, plus the Pastor of our church, who knows who
needs food) or we gather food during our Tuesday night volunteer night and
then my cousin delivers it to one of two agencies.  

Your local food bank or soup kitchen will probably jump for joy to get
donations.  Just ask around and you'll find an agency that wants the food
and how they would like you to deliver it.  In our case, my cousin drops off
the food bank donation on his day off or the Cornerstone Clubhouse, which
uses our produce to teach mentally-ill folks trying to re-integrate into the
community how to cook their own food (they make lunch for everyone at the
Clubhouse that day), just come to my house and pick it up.

We should track, but we've got several very devout Christians who really
believe "the left hand shouldn't know what the right hand is doing" and they
donate much, much more than 10%, so we just let it go.  I figure God will
know, so why bug these folks?

If you find PAR helpful, go for it.  But asking around your neighborhood and
finding out who needs/wants the produce may just be easier (and then you
back into PAR to get the good press! ;-)).  

I know we wouldn't have known anything about the Cornerstone Clubhouse's
need without asking around -- while they aren't a "traditional" food
program, I've been incredibly impressed with how our donations have been
able to help folks who are completely overlooked by our society.  There's a
local lady whose mental illness was totally out of control for years --
she's now with Cornerstone Clubhouse and learning to cook with vegetables
has given her not only skills, but something to talk about in the
neighborhood -- I had the first rational conversation with her in years
about how many different types of peppers there were and how much she now
enjoys making pepper steak sandwiches.  Now she can go to the local Farmer's
Market and talk to other people rationally, too (plus eat better!).

So, ask around and see where your garden's produce leads you -- you may end
up being helpful in ways you couldn't even imagine!

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth

A mission of 
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA  19460