Crazy 2020
This summer, our harvest came to 438 pounds of nice organic vegetables all given to the local food pantries. A HUGE thank you to all the volunteers from the Children’s Garden at Elmhurst Presbyterian Church, the Church Street Garden and members of St Peters UCC and First United Methodist, along with independent volunteer friends. This harvest brings our total donations to 8,563 pounds since inception in 2007. 99% of the food grown this summer went to the Yorkfield Food Pantry. As a reference, try to visualize just 500 pounds of stacked sacks of flour or sugar on the shelves at the grocery store. How many aisles would that take up?
Some projections show that by the end of the year, Covid-19 will cause more people to die each day from hunger than from virus infections. One in nine people in the U.S. use SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as food stamps) — in 2019, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
So, what can you do about this? You can grow a garden. You have a few options and H&EG can help you do this. 1) Find a church, local organization, senior/retirement center and start a garden. 2) Find a plot at a local community garden and donate food to the food pantry. 3) Grow your own food. Teach your children. Grow to Give.
At this Thanksgiving, we might be missing our family members due to the pandemic, but there still is plenty to be thankful for. And I’m thankful for all the Heaven and Earth Growers volunteers. God bless.
Jan Happel
www.heavenandearthgrowers.org
