Hunger in our Community

Are all Coloradans getting enough food these days? 

Not so according to the nonprofit organization Hunger Free Colorado. In fact, the pandemic has made life difficult for many and getting enough food is at the top of the list. The good news is that you can help tremendously. 

Below is Carol O'Meara's recent article about Hunger Free Colorado. Please read and learn how you can help others by growing extra crops this summer.

"Lingering impacts from a disrupted world are hitting our community, with hunger a growing problem. Last year, gardeners responded to the crisis by reviving the Victory Garden movement, growing and donating over 23 tons of produce for food banks and pantries across Colorado through the Grow & Give project.

Victory Gardens have been cultivated throughout our history as a country, popping up when events take a toll on our collective well being. During economic crashes, depression and war, people sow, grow, and share.  As spring warms the soil and the itch to plant consumes us, gardeners are being asked to plant extra to help combat the rise in hunger.  The numbers from the aspect of our shared catastrophe are grim.

Hunger Free Colorado conducted a quarterly survey in 2020, mapping the increase in hunger due to heightened effects from the pandemic. Their third statewide survey, conducted in December, found almost 38-percent of Coloradans are food insecure, lacking reliable access to nutritious food. This is more than two times what Colorado experienced during the Great Recession.

The survey found that more than half of households with children are struggling to have regular access to nutritious food, while 19-percent of children are not getting adequate nutrition because there is not enough money for food. Twenty-five percent of adults reported having to cut back or skip meals because there wasn't enough money to buy food. 

Gardeners, we give advice, seeds and plant divisions freely to anyone who'll take them. We joke about too many zucchini or the year cherry tomatoes buried us.  Let's plan for that bounty this year in order for others to eat, and plant an extra hill or two of zucchini or pop another cherry tomato vine in the ground. Let's sow for our community as well as ourselves.

Want to grow food but need a bit of advice? Check out the new Grow & Give website to find short how-to videos, longer webinars, or information sheets on growing fruits and vegetables in your garden. You'll find information added weekly, but if there's a topic you'd like to see covered, send me (Carol O'Meara) an email with your suggestion.

Sign the pledge to donate part of your harvest and join a community of concerned gardeners who want to make a difference. The website has a map of food pantries and locations for drop off, along with information on days and times they're accepting food donations.

You can help. Plant extra and donate it to pantries, to your neighbors who need it, or friends who have seen a decrease in income. Whether it's a dozen carrots or a hundred tomatoes, it doesn't matter. Grow, and give."

 

Good on 'ya for planting extra, donating and helping!