CALLING GARDENERS, VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
WENA garden harvest to be distributed to food insecure kids.
Last year the West End Neighborhood Association (WENA) set up a garden plot in the Clark Street Community Garden. WENA volunteers continue to tend the plot again this year. Their goal is to donate the WENA garden harvest to The Locker Project.
Beans from last year’s WENA garden harvest were shared at the annual WENA picnic in August.
The Locker Project helps feed food insecure kids in Maine. They distribute fresh produce that was donated by local farms and neighborhood gardeners.
Gardening volunteers are wanted to help grow a bountiful WENA garden harvest. The greater the harvest the more produce that will go to kids in need of nutritional food. Help is needed to sow, weed, water and harvest. All the usual garden chores.
Starting Monday, July 11th, 6:30 to 7:00 p.m., Gwynne Williams will guide volunteers at WENA’s Clark Street Community Garden plot. This volunteer opportunity will occur every Monday until the end of the gardening season. With a few trained volunteers the WENA garden harvest will feed the hungry.
There are plenty of kids who need the fresh produce. According to The Locker Project one in four Maine children regularly experiences food insecurity. That’s 60,000 Maine schoolchildren. This is substantially worse than the national average of one in six. Every Maine community, even the wealthiest, has food insecure kids.
The Locker Project is a local nonprofit. They partner with Good Shepherd Food Bank to distribute the food at school events. Schools are the most direct way for children to access nutritional food that might not be available at home.
The Locker Project currently stocks pantries at schools across southern Maine including Deering High, East End Community, Lincoln Middle, Reiche Community and more.
To learn more about the WENA garden harvest visit wenamaine.org.
For more information on The Locker Project visit mainelockerproject.org.
