The West Plains Community Garden, in place on city property since the spring of 2010, has been a food and educational resource for people and organizations including the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater West Plains Area.
To enhance those resources, a SeedMoney Challenge fundraiser is now underway, through Dec. 15, to improve the garden’s programs by adding a greenhouse. The goal is to raise $1,000 locally by Dec. 15, with up to an additional $1,000 in matching grant money from seedmoney.org.
The community garden first established in part to help address food insecurity for interested people living on low incomes, a project headed by Howell County Health Department Health Educator Dawn Hicks.
Today, it consists of plots on about a quarter-acre of the 2-acre Don Warden Park off of Lincoln Avenue and near the banks of the South Fork of Howell Creek, and features pathways that make the plots more accessible and taps to make watering easier.
What began as a way for gardeners to grow low-cost fresh produce now engages local youth in the Boys & Girls Club in the planting and growing of fresh vegetables and fruits that are prepared in the club's recently refurbished commercial kitchen.
This has resulted in not only the hands-on experience of gardening and learning what goes into food production, but healthier snacks served during the club's after school activities, Community Garden President Ginny Henderson said.
Additionally, the Kids on a Mission group based at the First Baptist Church in West Plains and headed by Children’s Pastor Phil Pietroburgo, helps cultivate food to supplement the church's weekly dinners, served free of charge as a “For the City" meal from 4:30 to 6 p.m. each Tuesday at the church. Henderson said there are about 150 people who partake in the meal on a regular basis. The meals are open to all.
Henderson commented it has been heartening to see children get involved in the process and grow, right along with the plants they tend.
Strawberries are a staple for fruit, and there are plans to eventually add blueberries and seedless grapes to the garden’s offerings.
"It never fails, every year a child wants to help even when Boys & Girls Club isn't in session," she noted. A greenhouse would make winter projects more feasible and allow program participants to get a head start on the growing season.
Usually the most activity happens from February through November, and the greenhouse will help extend that season.
While the community garden started out focused on individual gardeners renting allotments at a low cost, some of the plots became devoted to programs as a way to best help the community as a whole, and became part of its mission.
"We want to put our efforts into something worthwhile and what makes the most impact, going where it's needed," Henderson explained. "Our motto is ‘Planting seed and growing a community for those that need us most.’”
The West Plains Community Garden is a nonprofit organization that is a component of the Community Interagency Council. To make a donation, visit @westplainscommunitygarden on Facebook and use the QR code posted there or go to donate.seedmoney.org/10829/west-plains-community-garden.
