There are several community gardens in northeast Washington. The two largest are in Colville and Kettle Falls, which are both towns with very active food pantries open four days a week. The community garden in Colville is owned and operated by a local church. This year they saw a continuing decrease in the number of individuals renting gardening plots..
The Providence NEW Hunger Coalition is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization of 13 food banks and 14 partner organizations in rural northeast Washington working towards stabilizing and strengthening our emergency food system while addressing the root causes of hunger in our communities..
The Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) program encourages community members to dedicate a row (or more) of fruit, vegetables and/or herbs in their garden to help feed those in need. PAR was spearheaded by Jeff Lowenfels, a garden writer for the Anchorage Daily News and former Garden Writers Association (GWA) president. The idea was implemented as a national program by the GWA soon after..
There are many home gardeners in the greater Moses Lake area and asking them to help feed their neighbors was easier after receiving seed donations. A few letters to seed companies yielded 220 pounds of garden seeds from across the nation. Two-thirds of these seeds were distributed to food bank clients..
The space and inputs barrier can be lowered through the creation of a community garden where the cost of land and inputs can be spread across all participants. Time and motivation can become huge barriers in the height of the summer, but can be overcome by connecting your volunteer/donor with the recipients of their hard work and other ways of acknowledging their hard work..
Second Harvest has been leading the hunger-relief network in the region since 1971. Second Harvest distributes over 2 million pounds of free food each month to help people in need in 26 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho..
Plant starts and seed donations are a great way to get more fresh veggies into the hands of the folks who need them. This simultaneously empowers people and provides an opportunity for giving back – it is the gift that keeps giving!
WSU Cooperative Extension is a state-wide county resource for Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, with the mission of extending knowledge and changing lives. It was founded by the Smith-Lever Act in 1914..
Grow a Row is an international initiative that works to get backyard gardeners involved in donating freshly grown produce directly to their local food bank. We encouraged local gardeners to participate in the Grow a Row program as it has participants only commit a single row or container plant to be donated to the food bank..
There are two key components to a working gleaning program: interested farmers and committed volunteers. Without dedicated farmers and volunteers, there would be no food to glean and no one to help harvest it..