The Kiwanis Garden Project And The Thurston County Food Bank Add A Chapter To Dicken’s Classic Tale
By James Goche’
Good food and plenty are hallmarks of the approaching holidays. Family and friends gathered together around a table laden with wonderful things to eat is a celebration of community, caring, and the Christmas Spirit. Even Ebenezer Scrooge in Dicken’s Christmas Carol understood this.
When he awoke on Christmas Day, Scrooge called out to a boy in the street to ask if the prize turkey that was hanging in the poulterer’s window on the next street over was still there. When he learned that it was, he directed the boy to buy the bird for him and bring it back in all haste in return for a handsome fee As the boy ran off on this errand, Scrooge excitedly considered the rest of his plan.
“I’ll send it to Bob Cratchit’s!” whispered Scrooge, rubbing his hands and splitting with a laugh. “He shan’t know who sends it. It’s twice the size of Tiny Tim.”
But today as in Dicken’s time, people go hungry and families face the oncoming holidays without the comfort of a warm hearth or a well-laid table. Fortunately, acts of kindness and charity are not limited to literature but take place in real life here in South Sound, thanks in no small way to the good work of the Olympia Kiwanis Club and the Thurston County Food Bank.
For the last 23 years, the Olympia Kiwanis have operated a Garden Project to grow fresh food for those in need and distribute it to the community through the Thurston County Food Bank. Don Leaf and Derek Valley are the coordinators for this project and annually help supervise the effort of hundreds of volunteers who plant and harvest crops at five garden sites in the area. The project originated at the Kiwanis Westside Garden and has grown to include sites at the Capitol Campus, the Governor’s Garden, Friendly Grove Farm, and Vista Village. The cornucopia of crops produced include carrots, beets, rutabagas, onions, leeks, winter squash, cucumbers, potatoes, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, peppers and garlic.
“The garden project was a response to the difficult times that our community faced during the recession of the early 1990’s,” said Derek Valley. “Kiwanis members began growing vegetables and teamed up with the Food Bank to distribute the produce.”
The Capitol Campus is the newest and most visible Kiwanis Garden and was started in 2010 when Kiwanis asked the State to convert the rectangular lawn areas there into mini-farms full of growing crops.
“This was an opportunity to turn areas that were growing mostly weeds into productive gardens that could help our community,” said Tom Henderson, Assistant Director for the State Department of Enterprise Services. “Governor Gregoire liked the idea and followed up by opening an additional Kiwanis garden spot at the Mansion.”
“The Capital Campus is ideal for a garden,” explained Don Leaf. “The soil is only 18 inches deep and grows great potatoes and onions because of the heat rising from the State Parking Garage below. It is also a highly visible location in the middle of the State Campus, and so it receives a lot of visits from both state workers and out-of-town tourists.”
Leaf added that education of the public is an additional benefit of the Kiwanis project, saying that it brings city dwellers into the country and teaches them about farming. “Our other garden sites bring volunteers to rural parts of the county where they can see working farms and learn that agriculture includes good stewardship of the land.”
Thousands of people and dozens of organizations have volunteered their time over the years, but no matter what their background or age, everyone seems to agree that they enjoy working together to help others.
“It feels good to help our community and is fun to work as a team to grow crops for the Food Bank,” said Andrew Becker, Kiwanis volunteer and Providence St. Peter’s Hospital‘s Manager of Nutrition and Food Services.
“It is wonderful to work with the kids to teach them about sustainable farming and the value of helping those who are hungry,” added Blue Peetz, another Kiwanis volunteer and co-founder/youth coordinator of Olympia’s GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty) organization.
According to Food Bank Executive Director Robert Coit, Kiwanis contributed 18 tons of fresh food last year which translates into support for approximately 5,400 families and 10,800 people in our community. Coit said that the number of those who ask for food assistance has been steadily increasing and therefore the Kiwanis Garden Project makes an important contribution to the Food Bank’s ability to meet this need.
So now that the holidays are upon us, have a good thought for those who help others. If you have been one of the Kiwanis or Food Bank volunteers, take a bow. If you know a volunteer, make it a point to shake their hand. And if you learn that a local business is supporting its employees in their volunteer efforts or in making contributions of food, keep them in mind when you shop.
Indeed, these good works are a story for the telling and in proper Dickensian fashion serve as a Christmas Carol for our South Sound community.
The author and his family own and operate Friendly Grove Farm. He can be contacted at marketgardens@comcast.net. All photos are courtesy of the author.
