Feed Your Neighbor Produce Program Is Huge Success

In August, young gardener, Grace Fee asked her parents if she could collect donors’ abundant produce from local gardens and give it to food pantries, which would then distribute the food to people in need. The two donation sites were Storch Braund Funeral Home and her home located outside of Greenville.

The call went out for donations and Grace was amazed at what happened next. On the first day, bins at both locations were filled to overflowing with healthy, beautiful and nutritious vegetables. Produce came from all over the county and many donors were grateful that their harvest was going to people that would benefit instead of their abundance going to waste.

Grace checked current produce prices, weighed and inventoried all produce coming in. After 5 weeks of donations, over 1,700 lbs. of produce were donated valued at over $1,600. Originally, Feed Your Neighbor was going to partner with the recently merged FISH and Hope in the Darke Food pantries located at the corner of Gray and Walker, but the outpouring of donations were more than they were initially prepared to store and distribute. Therefore, the Feed Your Neighbor program was able to partner with not only the above mentioned food pantry, but also to make multiple donations to Community Action Partnership, several homeless shelters, Safe Haven, the domestic violence women’s shelter, Samaritan House, Darke County Home, St. Paul’s soup kitchen, and Community Unity.

Grace and the Feed Your Neighbor Produce Program, along with all of its partners, would like to thank the community for their generosity and compassion. Without the support of the community, this program would not have had the positive impact that it did. “I can’t wait to see what we can bring in next year.” states Grace excitedly. “Because of your support, we made a difference!” Her hope is that next year as you are planning your gardens, you will think of the Feed Your Neighbor Produce Program and plant something extra to give to your neighbors in need.

Furthermore, in an effort to continue the cycle of giving, Feed Your Neighbor is partnering with a new program called Feed Darke County. The goal of Feed Darke County is simple, to stock every food pantry in Darke County with a year’s worth of food and sundries. Such an impressive goal will have a lasting impact on our communities and county as families struggle through this difficult financial time. Storch Braund Funeral Home will continue to be a donation site for this program as well as other locations to be determined. For more information on how you can support Feed Darke County, please contact EUM Church at 548-3211.