start a Plant a Row for the Hungry campaign

The church that sponsored the Soup Kitchen at which I volunteered so often has closed because of financial hardship and a declining congregation I am seeking a new opportunity in which to become active and start a Plant A Row campaign there.

In the meantime I will continue to write about Plant A Row because concept is simple and perhaps I can inspire others to start a similar effort in their community.

as I become more and more aware of the problem of hunger in the United States, and learned this week that the church that ran the Soup Kitchen at which I volunteered so often is closing, doing more, and making others aware of the simple tasks that they can do is all the more important

... this round

PAR began in Anchorage, AK, in the garden column of Jeff Lowenfels, former Garden Writers Association president, when he asked gardeners to plant a row of vegetables for Bean’s Cafe, an Anchorage soup kitchen. Since then, PAR has grown exponentially through continued media support, individual and company sponsorship, and volunteerism.

The purpose of PAR is to create and sustain a grassroots program whereby garden writers utilize their media position with local newspapers, magazines and radio/TV programs to encourage their readers/listeners to donate their surplus garden produce to local food banks, soup kitchens and service organizations to help feed America’s hungry.

PAR’s success hinges on its people-helping-people approach. The concept is simple. There are over 70 million gardeners in the U.S. alone, many of which plant vegetables and harvest more than they can consume. If every gardener plants one extra row of vegetables and donates their surplus to local food banks and soup kitchens, a significant impact can be made on reducing hunger. Food agencies will have access to fresh produce, funds earmarked for produce can be redirected to other needed items and the hungry of America will have more and better food than is presently available.

While not a garden writer, I do have a sphere of influence to whom I can write to an audience that are not reached by the garden media.

This will be a major effort for 2009 for me.

invoices

thats it

and packing slips

All those people with whom I come in contact in a virtual way can learn about Plant A Row For The Hungry with their packages from Tuesdays And Thursdays. There are hundreds of people every month with whom I have contact – and with very little effort on my part I may be able to inspire a few to plant a row for the hungry!

I forsee a copywriting excercise in my future, very near future.

It didn’t long for me to realize that there is a need for fresh vegetables at the Soup Kitchen. With every meal there is always a fresh salad served, but the produce usually comes from purchases made by the Soup Kitchen itself (there is very little donated fresh produce). The donations of fresh produce from my garden can help shift financial resources of the Soup Kitchen to another area of need. I am looking forward to making this come to fruition.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one in ten households in the United States experiences hunger or the risk of hunger. Many frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for an entire day. Approximately 25 million people, including 9.9 million children, have substandard diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. In the past year, the demand for hunger assistance has increased by 40%, and research shows that hundreds of hungry children and adults are turned away from food banks each year because of lack of resources.

Procrastination always seems to somehow kill plants… if I procrastinate too long to put them out, it’s too hot and they die; if I procrastinate about watering them, a super hot day will kill them. In this particular case, procrastination and delays in building the chicken run mean that the chickens have had (and still have) free run of the garden for several weeks now. What they haven’t eaten, they have trampled. All the zucchini (except for 3 plants that I was able to barricade) were eaten to the ground. The tomato plants have been trampled by (successful) attempts of chickens going after tomato worms. The corn plants are the current target. Only the sunflowers remain unharmed – and there are only 30 something of them – not enough for a real harvest… but with 27 chickens, perhaps I can donate EGGS to the food bank instead?

The plants are still tiny, but greening up nicely. Tomatoes by early fall, I hope.

Weeded the area where I’m going to plant out the summer squash this year. They are heavy feeders, so I will have to add both dirt and fertilizer. Starting to heat up, here, so I think the timing is just about right for planting them out.

I have to do a bit of homework for this one, but it sounds intriguing, and somewhat long term.