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New community gardens could boost the offerings at local food bank and pantries Date published: 4/2/2010
BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often the first casualties of a tight household budget. Produce packs a nutritious punch but comes at a hefty price compared with other groceries. So people struggling to make ends meet may end up with fewer healthful foods. A regional group hopes to provide more nourishment by creating gardens for low-income residents in the Fredericksburg area. It also hopes to teach them how to grow their own nutritious bounty. Quin Rivers, a community action group east of Richmond, started a food program last year. This year the program will help maintain seven community gardens in Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Spotsylvania and New Kent. "We're looking to increase food pantries and provide nutritional foods," said Lindsey Williams, community food coordinator for Quin Rivers. In a few months, vegetables grown near the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank will provide a healthful boost to the emergency food boxes for hungry people. "It's nice to have fresh vegetables; they're so nice and healthy but so expensive," said Oya Oliver, director of the food bank off Routes 2 and 17 in Spotsylvania. "And now people get to eat healthy. That's what's important." The Quin Rivers program has worked to strengthen area food pantries, Williams said. She also helped the Thurman Brisben Center connect with a farmer's market in Spotsylvania so that leftover produce can go to people at the regional homeless shelter in Fredericksburg. More people than ever now rely on food banks and pantries, Williams said. So she's looking at ways to fill the pantries' shelves. And while she wants to increase the overall amount of food, Williams especially wants to increase nutrition of the food. "People get a lot of staples at food pantries," she said. "But they get little, if any, fresh produce." Community gardens--now receiving a bump in popularity in part because of first lady Michelle Obama's push for them--seemed like a good way to get more nutrition for less money. The National Gardening Association reports that the average 600-square-foot vegetable garden yields $600 worth of fresh produce. Williams has helped start area gardens at Bragg Hill and Heritage Park and one in the backyard of the Brisben Center in the city. "More often than not, we don't get a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, so this is tremendous," said Kim Lally, director of development for the Brisben homeless shelter. She expects a crop of lettuce, onions, broccoli, spinach and rosemary this spring. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers could follow in the summer. Those vegetables could help shelter residents become healthier. "One of the places you suffer the most when your finances are depleted is nutrition," Lally said. "So a lot of the people who come in here are suffering from malnutrition. So this garden is just such a blessing." Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Date published: 4/2/2010
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