Although this summer’s record high temperatures and low rainfall amounts are making gardening a challenge, the green-thumbed gardeners at the St. Charles Park District’s community garden plots have found a novel way of dealing with whatever extra vegetables they can harvest.

Faced with too many tomatoes or a plethora of peas, gardeners can donate their surplus produce to those for whom fresh vegetables are a mealtime luxury.
Through a unique cooperative program between the Park District and the Northern Illinois Food Bank, excess crops will be donated to the NIFB’s Geneva office for distribution through various programs that deliver food to the area’s hungry.
Located at both Primrose Farm Park and James O. Breen Community Park, near the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, nearly 500 garden plots are available for use by private individuals.
At each site, the Park District has installed informative signs describing the program and provided baskets where donations can be deposited.
Produce is collected every Tuesday evening and safely stored inside Park District facilities in food-grade-approved containers donated by community gardener Sue Davis, of Jersey Mike’s Subs in Lake-in-the-Hills. Park District staff deliver the donated goods every Wednesday morning to the NIFB distribution point located at Jewel Supermarket on Route 38 and Prairie Street in St. Charles.
“We usually have an abundance of food in our gardens that we are not always able to harvest, so this is such a great way to give the extra produce to someone who really needs it,” Davis said. “I love knowing that our harvest is going to a local food bank, run by volunteers…who distribute it into the local area – our community!”
Inspired by the national “Plant a Row for the Hungry” campaign, a public service initiative launched in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association Foundation, the Park District contacted those individuals maintaining community garden plots and encouraged them to plant extra rows of peas, onions, potatoes or beans that could be harvested and donated throughout the summer to the NIFB.
Gardeners who did not wish to specifically plant an additional row of crops for this cause are invited to donate whatever excess vegetables they produce. Gardeners hope to follow up with a second crop of lettuce, onions, or Swiss chard in the fall, says Davis.
Such fresh produce is a welcome addition to NIFB pantries, since most of their donations are of nonperishable items, according to Pam Otto, the Park District’s Manager of Nature Programs and Interpretive Services who is coordinating the community garden plot donation drive with the NIFB.
“The NIFB is thrilled to have these donations of fresh produce to help increase their nutritional offerings,” Otto said.
“Obtaining fresh, quality produce for the more than 60,000 hungry neighbors Northern Illinois Food Bank serves each week can be challenging. We are extremely grateful to the gardeners who are gracious enough to share their abundance. The donations we receive will help provide quality nutrition for our hungry neighbors who may not otherwise be able to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Steve Ericson, Director of food procurement for the Northern Illinois Food Bank.