Food Bank partners with Comstock Farms on a new Community
Garden
Mary Anne Hughes has big dreams for the Community Food Bank of
San Benito County, including a community garden that will offer a
source of fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income residents.
”
My ultimate goal is to have a community garden, a community
kitchen and a kids cafe,
”
she said.
”
This is the first step in a longer trip.
”
Food Bank partners with Comstock Farms on a new Community Garden
Mary Anne Hughes has big dreams for the Community Food Bank of San Benito County, including a community garden that will offer a source of fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income residents.
“My ultimate goal is to have a community garden, a community kitchen and a kids cafe,” she said. “This is the first step in a longer trip.”
Hughes has partnered with Guadalupe Figueroa and her husband Gerardo Salinas, who own Comstock Farms on Comstock Road. Figueroa said her husband’s family owns the land and they started planting a few years ago.
“We’re having a really harsh financial crisis, so we started growing vegetables for our family and we were hoping it could go to other families,” Figueroa said. “We had all this food and it was hard to donate. Most places we called wouldn’t take perishables.”
They’re not a farming family by trade. Salinas works as a social worker and said he was aware of the struggles of many local families. He contacted Hughes last year when the family had more food than they could harvest for themselves. Hughes coordinated with volunteers who harvested the extra fruits and vegetables. This year, they have worked to create a partnership that will expand the amount of food that is grown to one acre.
“Ultimately, we want the food to go to low-income families,” Hughes said. “Some of that is the people who will be working there will be able to take some home with them. It may not provide a lot of food for the food bank the first year.”
Figueroa and Hughes stressed that the farm will also serve as an educational place, for families or students to learn about organic gardening.
“I have some people from Hollister Youth Alliance who are actively getting involved,” Hughes said. “They want to bring some of their kids out there to work. They want to set it up as an educational opportunity as well.”
Plants have been donated by Headstart Nursey, of Gilroy, and Water Tech Ag Supply, of Salinas, donated irrigation supplies. Starter plants include several varieties of tomatoes and bell peppers, squash and berries. The family also has some fruit trees.
“We are doing the planting on April 30,” Figueroa said. “We have the rows ready and this weekend we installed the irrigation. We have all the plants.”
Families in need of food can volunteer in the garden, and take home some of the crops. Others can volunteer their time if they just want to help grow food for the Food Bank clients.
Though Hughes said she is uncertain how much produce will go the Community Food Bank this year, the effort is in line with another mission this summer. Hughes is looking at the potential for the Food Bank to purchase a small refrigerated truck that staff or volunteers would be able to take to Dunne Park every other Saturday during the summer months for a distribution of fresh produce.
“We are looking into finding the money to do that,” Hughes said, of purchasing a truck. “That will finalize being able to do that at the park.”
The idea came out of the Dunne Park Restoration Project, a year-long effort to increase use of the local park.
“We’d like to have a counterpoint with apples, oranges and carrots so, hopefully, we have the kids being and eating more healthy,” Hughes said.
Hughes said that the number of fresh produce items in the distribution bags from the Community Food Bank has gone up over the last five years.
“We’ve become members of an organization called Ag Against Hunger, from the Salinas Valley,” Hughes said. “We go over there once a week and pick up a load of fresh fruits and vegetables.”
She added that local farmers have also been supportive with donating excess produce to the farms, and local trucking company Redmond Transportation, donates produce whenever they have a store decline a delivery.
“Our fresh fruits and vegetables as a percentage has gone from 32 percent to 62 percent over the last five years,” she said. “Meanwhile canned and dry goods, which used to be our staple, have gone down. We are really happy about that.”
The main reason for the change is to provide healthier foods to low-income families.
“The obesity problem is more prevalent in lower-income (households),” Hughes said. “They can’t afford to buy really healthy stuff. They get more bang for their buck from carbohydrates. We offer things they can’t normally buy and are trying to help with the overall obesity.”
Volunteers needed to plant community garden
Volunteers are needed at the Comstock Farm April 30 to plant fruits and vegetables that will go to the Community Food Bank of San Benito County. The two groups are working together to grow more than an acre of fruit trees and vegetables to feed low-income individuals and families in San Benito County. The goal is to provide an educational space for youth to learn healthy eating and how to grow food in an organic way that protects their health as well as their community and the environment.
The first planting of the season is scheduled for April 30, subject to change if it rains, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be activities for children throughout the day. A snack and lunch will be provided for volunteers.
For more information, or to sign up to volunteer, call Lupe at 524-1305 or e-mail [email protected].
