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Gardeners urged to plant row for hungry

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BY YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

BRANDON - As home gardeners prepare a patch in their yards for an annual vegetable garden, a Mulberry woman is hoping to plant a seed of her own.

She is urging people to plant an extra row for the hungry, part of a national program to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the less fortunate.

For this program, America's Second Harvest, located on the western edge of Brandon, would be the recipient.
Second Harvest is a huge food distribution center that doles out non-perishables and other items to food pantries around the region.

Plant a Row for the Hungry, a program established by the Garden Writers Association, encourages home gardeners to plant an extra row of vegetables that they can donate to a local food bank.

Dionne McCaskill-Alston, of Mulberry, said she's anxious to get the program up and running.

"I've worked with a lot of daycare programs and early childhood development and have done a lot of planting as part of the curriculum," McCaskill-Alston said. "When we would harvest the garden, there was always too much."

"I knew there had to be a better way than just disposing of this stuff," McCaskill-Alston said. She found the gardening program on the Internet.

She's just starting to get the word out, but Second Harvest is anxious to get the contributions.

"We're always in need of produce," said Marc Sutherland, resource development director for America's Second Harvest.

"We work with hundreds of nonprofit soup kitchens and food closets. We can make use of any edible product," Sutherland said.

Some local farmers do contribute produce to the food bank, but it's a lot of the same thing, since only certain crops are grown here commercially. Plant a Row will provide variety, Sutherland said.

As part of the Second Harvest Kids Cafe program - there are 10 cafes scattered throughout the region - children attending the program get fed each day after school, and Second Harvest will soon begin sending a bag of groceries home with them on Fridays. The donated produce will be in the bags, Sutherland said.

Gardeners who bring produce to Second Harvest, located at 4702 Transport Drive, Building 6, will receive $1.20 tax credit per pound of fruits or vegetables donated.

And those contacting McCaskill-Alston can get a brochure on the program and a row marker for the garden, indicating the extra row will go to feed the hungry.

"So far, I've just been trying to get the word out," McCaskill-Alston said. She's also starting a children's podcast, called "This Way Up!" in an effort to get youngsters involved in the gardening initiative. The children met at an organic farm last week for the first time.

"The children will have an opportunity to harvest and prepare the produce for donations," McCaskill-Alston said. "For most of them, this was their first experience viewing the gardening process, as well as tasting new fruits directly from its source."

To learn more about the program, contact McCaskill-Alston at plantarowtampabay@gmail.com or on the social networking site Facebook, at Plant a Row Tampa Bay. She can be reached by phone at (813) 321-5335.

Sweetwater Organic Community Farm in Tampa has signed up with the program to be the major contributor to the program. The kids will help harvest it, wash it and then it will be bagged. They will also have the opportunity to grow. A lot of them have never even touched a seed before.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 627-4763.

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