By Clint Thompson
Alabama Extension’s Grow More, Give More 250 Pound Challenge yielded 124,414 pounds of donated produce this year.
The annual campaign allows Alabama gardeners to give back produce to those in need, which numbered 24,000 individuals and families that face food insecurity across the state.
Bethany O’Rear, Alabama Extension home horticulture agent and leader of the Grow More, Give More project, talked about the campaign, which started during COVID in 2020.
“It was kind of a modern day victory garden approach. Other than essential workers, everybody was at home. We were getting tons of questions about, ‘I’ve never grown my own food before. What do I do?’ That was the educational or the Grow More piece,” O’Rear said. “But then along with that, we said, ‘What if we encourage these people who are gardening to plant extra for those who can’t grow?’ Maybe they lost their job because of COVID and they don’t have extra income to plant a garden. Maybe they’re physically unable. At that point, you couldn’t really go anywhere. We were just trying to help those in need.
“Thankfully, COVID’s kind of waned, but yet food insecurity is still a problem, and so we’ve continued the program and it has grown every year.”
Participating Counties
The statewide challenge encouraged gardeners in Alabama county to grow and donate at least 250 pounds of fresh produce. Thirty-five of the 55 participating counties met or exceeded the 250-pound goal.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to get more counties involved over the duration of the project. Our folks on campus had an idea and said, ‘What if we come up with a 250 pound challenge in honor of the 250th birthday of the nation?’ And so that’s where it kind of started from,” she added.
“We were just asking home gardeners to plant extra and donate; whether it was a regional food bank or a soup kitchen at a local church or a senior center in their community. But it was home gardeners growing extra donating to those in need.”
Source: Alabama Extension