|
 What
Is Plant-A-Row For The Hungry (PAR)?
PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE – One pound at a time… one row at a time.
Plant-A-Row for
the Hungry (PAR) is a people-helping-people program. This
innovative public service campaign encourages gardeners to grow a
little extra food and donate the produce to local soup kitchens and
food banks that serve the homeless and hungry.
PAR’s
mission is to provide an avenue through which the more than 70
million gardeners in this country can help the 31 million men, women
and children who go to bed hungry daily.
In 2003
participants in the York County PAR campaign donated over 10,000
pounds of fresh produce to help feed the hungry. In addition to home
gardeners – school groups, 4-H groups and local farms helped in the
effort.
You Can Make a Difference!
As An Individual, You Can:
-
Plant extra.
-
Deliver the
harvest to a food collection site.
-
Give a
brochure to someone you know.
-
Help the
office with support services.
As A Group, You Can:
-
Hand out
starter kits.
-
Organize
community-wide planting and harvest events.
-
Plant a
community garden.
-
Put together
a glean team to harvest produce donated by local farms.
-
Challenge
other organizations to beat your goal.
-
Adopt a farm
stand. Organize a team to collect the left over produce and
deliver it to a donation site.
As A Business, You Can:
 Imagine
What You Can Do
A large planting
or bumper crop will mean a great deal to your local soup kitchen,
shelter or food pantry. Even one additional row of vegetables can
make a difference in your community. Flowers to help brighten the
shelter meals Herbs add both flavor and nutrients to food.
If you have no
garden space or green thumb, help is also needed weighing and
delivering produce, picking commercial farmers’ surplus and
providing storage space for vegetables.
Planting A Row
It
doesn’t take a lot to make a real contribution and the time to plan
is now! A typical packet of snap bean seeds produces about 20 pounds
of fresh, tasty produce. A packet of carrot seeds produces about 100
pounds. The average large, solid tomato weighs about a pound.
The Need in York County
100,000
individuals and 25,000 families were served by 31 York County
shelters, pantries and soup kitchens in 2003.
For information on Plant-A-Row contact:
University of Maine Cooperative Extension
York County Office, 21 Bradeen St, Suite, 302
Springvale, ME 04083
Tel:
207-324-2814 (local), 1-800-287-1535 (in Maine)
E-mail:
frankw@umext.maine.edu
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