Food bank: Keep planting rows for the hungry
PORTLAND, Ore. – Working in the garden this weekend? Consider planting a few extra plants or even an extra row to help fight hunger.
"It's easy to join 'Plant a Row,'" said Rebeca Siplak in a press release Wednesday. "Simply plant a little extra in your garden. At harvest time, donate the extra produce to a local food agency."
Siplak is the Oregon Food Bank's Learning Gardens program coordinator. She's often working with volunteers in the food bank's Learning Gardens, a 13-acre plot of land for community gardening at 6801 S.E. 60th Ave. across from Portland's Brentwood Park.
Eric Sopkin, metro services coordinator for the Oregon Food Bank, tells us that food banks can use garden items that transport and store well. For example, he recommends tomatoes picked slightly under-ripe, green beans, garlic, onions, hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, collard greens, beets and summer squash.
"No quantity is too small," said Sopkin, who helps gardeners partner with local food-distribution agencies at harvest time.
During the 2009 harvest season, gardeners donated at least 81,630 pounds of nutrition produce to food pantries, soup kitchens and other agencies in the Portland metro area, according to food bank data. That's equivalent to two semi-truck loads of produce.
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