TheGardenTalks: Putting the Community First
Church of the Pacific Po‘oku Community Garden (Part 1)
"The first thing we give away is aloha, then love, then food." John Burkhouse, Garden Coordinator
Quietly and steadily the Church of the Pacific Food Pantry, in Po‘oku, Kaua’i, fed over 8000 people last year and fed them well. Fresh basil, kale, green beans, chard, sweet potatoes, papayas and citrus are just some of the food items offered at this food pantry. It doesn’t sound like what you’d expect from a typical food pantry and, well, that’s because it’s not. The goal is to provide balanced and nutritious food for families in need.
Community Gardens, like communities, come in all shapes and sizes. Po‘oku is based on building the fabric of community in a very unique way. A foundational belief that guides this is the question: What does it take to be a true community? If someone is hungry in your community how can you help? There are people living here that need a helping hand and this is one way of looking out for those individuals and families in our community in a very real and tangible way by putting nutritious food on their tables.
In 2008, volunteer Gabrielle Pia and a few friends were talking about the shortage of food on Kauai and wondering, “what can we do about it?” They created a plan of action and a group of 20 joined together and contracted Joseph Dunsmore, agricultural specialist from Kauai Community College, to give classes on gardening, soils, crops, and marketing. From there the Church of the Pacific Community Garden began augmenting the existing food pantry with tantalizing produce and herbs. Initially, when the pantry started nine years ago they served about 40 people a week; today numbers can reach up to 250.
The Pantry and community garden are supported entirely by grants, donations and volunteers. Fresh produce from the Church garden is supplemented by various sources: local farmers who bring the extras from market day; through gleaning the abundance of excess produce from homes and farms; and from individual volunteers. One volunteer, Kathie, has a plot nearby at the Kilauea community garden where she grows for her family and specifically for the food pantry–filling up her bright red basket week after week with food for her neighbors.
The pantry is open every Wednesday from 3:00 to -5:30 PM and caters to north shore families. Volunteers talked about the growing need for food saying, “there is a mistaken impression that on the north shore of Kauai there is not a need for food. Unfortunately this is not the case. It’s amazing how many people are surprised not only that there is a food pantry on the north shore but that there is such a need for this food.” For more details on volunteering or providing food for the pantry please contact The Church of the Pacific.
John, Gabrielle and Pastor Glenn are the motivating forces behind this community effort. They are steadfast in their belief that we all deserve healthy nutritious food and on occasion anyone might need a helping hand to get it. Sometimes a helping hand and some good nutrition for someone in need can be the catalyst for other positive changes. One thing they love to see is a participant getting a job, a home, a car and other basics that can seem so overwhelming when nearly everything has been lost. When you work with the food pantry you experience the joy in sharing and learn how fragile the system of food security really is. Church of the Pacific offers a way for people to feel comfort, love, and dignity along with getting a generous helping of food.
Community Gardens all have their own character: some focus on families, others elders, some share plots and harvests while yet others assign individual plots. At Church of the Pacific, The Po‘oku Garden is designed to grow food for people in the community. It’s a bit of a new twist on the meaning of community garden as all the volunteer efforts go to growing food and produce that is given away.
Today garden volunteers are harvesting 50 to 75 pounds of produce every week for the Pantry. An exciting new development is that the Northshore Lion’s Club and Weinberg Foundation have just joined in the efforts and the garden will be expanding! If you are interested in helping with this unique community effort please contact Gabrielle at (808) 639-2146. The entire garden is run on volunteer efforts and they sincerely ask for dedicated volunteers who want to weed, water and give of their time and energy. There are a variety of volunteer jobs from soil preparation, harvesting and record keeping to being the daily lead volunteer on site. They invite both novice and experienced gardeners to join in saying, “It’s okay if you are new to gardening, we can all learn together.” You are welcome if you simply want to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the site, pull a few weeds and enjoy the inner satisfaction that comes from giving.
(This is Part One of a two part series on the Po‘oku Community Garden. Part Two will appear in a future issue after the planned garden expansion is completed.)
TheGardenTalks is brought to you by Colleen Carroll, Director and C.E.O. of NatureTalks. Colleen lives on Kaua’i and gives inspirational presentations on gardening. To see more of NatureTalks stories on gardens and gardeners see the book, It’s About More than Trees. The most popular story is The Power of Plants to Transform Community. Colleen created NatureTalks to connect people with nature. This report is reprinted with kind permission from Colleen’s website NatureTalks.
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