Plant an extra row for giving
Kim Roos gets a lot of food from her 20- by 30-foot garden. Even with eight children, there is plenty to share.
"We always enjoy planting, but harvesting you tend to get a lot more than you can use," said Roos, 50, of Clinton Township.
This year, Roos will raise vegetables just as she has for 23 years, and this year's excess will not go to waste.
"We are going to give part of our harvest away," Roos said, explaining she plans to donate extra produce to her local food cupboard.
Roos was inspired by her friend Eileen Freyermuth of Winfield Township, who also plans to donate.
Freyermuth got the idea through a national public service program called Plant A Row for the Hungry, started in the mid-1990s by the Garden Writers Association. As part of that program, gardeners are encouraged to plant an extra row to donate.
Even though Butler County has no official PAR chapter, hunger awareness is spreading.
According to Nick Monday of the St. Vincent DePaul Society food cupboard on East Locust Street, donations of produce are increasing. In recent years, individuals and churches have stepped up their donations, but the need is far from saturated.
"I would say at this time last year we were doing 1,500 (people) a month. This year we're pushing 1,800 hard," Monday said. "A lot of blue collar people are coming in — guys that wouldn't normally come to a food cupboard."
Despite increasing donations, Monday said the cupboard still buys much of its produce from an outlet in Pittsburgh. Although the produce is purchased wholesale, it still costs money and consumes the time of volunteers, who travel in pairs to get it.
More money saved on produce will allow the food bank to do more for its clients, he said.
"I don't know if you've been in the stores lately, but a couple nice size peppers costs roughly $2.95. We pack our peppers three in a bag. That's a nice savings for a family," he said.
"People who would just have an extra tomato plant or two: That would give us an extra 12 or 24 tomatoes we can give out."
Freyermuth shares that vision, saying "If every home gardener could plant one row extra to donate, it would almost solve the hunger problem in this country. ... How much more work is planting one more row?"
