Watering garden whets spirit of volunteers
By Catherine Edman Daily Herald Staff Writer

If it's a vegetable, there is a good chance the Schaumburg Garden Club is donating it to Plant a Row for the Hungry. Club president Dennis Wang gathers up the harvest from just one week.

Daily Herald Photo/S. K. Vemmer

It requires strapping a huge garbage can to a cart, transporting it to the pump and then back - full - to the garden.

Twice.

Then, to actually get the water over to individual plants, members make a seemingly endless number of trips to the barrel. "We're just out there with our little watering cans," member Kitty Molander said.

It might seem difficult, but to the committed crew working the plot, it's a relatively small investment in a guaranteed big return.

Early this spring, the club decided to get two plots in the community garden and dedicate one of them entirely to Plant a Row for the Hungry.

As an employee at one of the program's drop-off sites, the Schaumburg Township Food Pantry, Molander knew firsthand how badly food pantries need fresh produce and how grateful clients are to receive the food.

It's simply logical for the garden club to participate, she said. Plant a Row urges gardeners to plant extra vegetables in their plots, then to take the surplus to area social service agencies.

The Daily Herald and Northern Illinois Food Bank are urging area residents to donate 25,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables during this growing season.

"I've been there when people take things home," Molander said. "People are just so-o-o-o appreciative."

A core group from the club volunteered to take on the project and planted a wide range of vegetables to harvest throughout the summer: radishes, green peppers, yellow squash, tomatoes.

Every Thursday night, the group meets up at the garden plot and tackles whatever needs to be done that week - weeding, harvesting, replanting. Molander than takes the produce with her to work and drops it off at the food pantry.

They've put signs up in the community garden encouraging other gardeners to donate their "extras" and they're urging other members not working in the club's garden to donate from their personal gardens, as well.

"It's such an easy thing do to," Molander said, "and it's such a wonderful thing to do for people."

If you have any questions about the program, or drop-off requirements, call our Plant A Row hotline at (847) 806-4277, Northern Illinois Food Bank at (630) 443-6910, or e-mail us at Plantarow@dailyherald.com.

The program collecting surplus vegetables for area food pantries and soup kitchens runs through Sept. 30.