Plant a Row for the Hungry

— from Pegi Groundwater —

Spring is in the air on the island and gardeners are busy planting their gardens. The Orcas Island Master Gardeners once again urge all island gardeners to plant extra seeds in their garden to provide fresh and nutritious food to help feed people who are hungry on Orcas Island.

You Can Make A Difference!

The Plant a Row for the Hungry program (PAR) is rooted in the heartfelt tradition of gardeners sharing their bountiful harvest with others. Nothing beats the taste and nutrition of fresh-picked vegetables. Growing and eating food from your own garden can improve your health, save you money, increase your sustainability, and decrease your carbon footprint. And most important, your garden can help a lot of people in need.

PAR encourages local gardeners to sow extra seed when they are planting and when the crops ripen, to donate their extra produce to the Orcas Food Bank. The Food Bank accepts fresh produce, as well as non-perishable food items, to assist island residents.

How you can help:

• Plant your extra seeds in your garden and tend them with the rest of your garden. If you don’t have extra seed, you can pick up some seed from the Master Gardeners at their booth at the Orcas Island Farmers Market or at their PAR information displays in the lobby at the Orcas Library, at local banks, or from Driftwood Nursery.
• Donate the extra produce you harvest to the Orcas Island Food Bank. The Food Bank prefers to receive fresh produce donations on Tuesday and Friday mornings. All produce should have the dirt rinsed off of it. Donations should be placed in the donation box by the door on the side of the Food Bank building next to the Community Church. The Orcas Master Gardeners have stickers available that you can use to identify your produce as a PAR donation.
• And remember, you can always donate any surplus fresh produce from your garden to the Orcas Food Bank, even if it was not originally planted for PAR.

What Is PAR?
Launched in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association, PAR is a nationwide people-helping-people program that encourages gardeners to grow a little extra and donate the produce to local soup kitchens and food pantries serving the homeless and hungry in their local communities.

The Need Is Great

• Over 36 million Americans live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger daily.
• Almost 14 million people facing hunger each day are children.
• 1-in-8 Americans face hunger daily.

PAR’s mission is to provide an avenue for individuals, corporations and over 84 million gardening households in the U.S. to help America’s most vulnerable citizens and the food agencies serving them.