Enrolling church, neighbors in the fight against hunger
By Catherine Edman Daily Herald Staff Writer

Or tomatoes. Or cucumbers.

As long as it's a fruit or vegetable, she's thrilled.

She wants her fellow members at Alleluia Lutheran Church in Naperville to join in the Plant a Row for the Hungry program and help send fresh fruits and vegetables to some folks who really need them.

And she's stepped up to make it easier for them to donate.

Julie Daly collects donations of fresh produce at a table she set up in the lobby of her church.

Daily Herald Photo/Rob Hart

"I understand people are hungry elsewhere, but it doesn't make any sense to me that they're hungry here (in the Naperville area)," she said.

Daly's notified her congregation she will park herself in the lobby between Sunday services, with a bin she purchased, to receive their fresh donations.

She'll take the contributions to a Plant a Row food pantry the next morning.

All Daly wants her church to do is fill the bin each week. And as long as she's working with the church, Daly figured, why not make the same offer to her Naperville subdivision, as well? She put a blurb in the Ashbury subdivision newsletter letting folks know she would have a bin in front of her house on Sundays through September in case they had a few extra tomatoes, or other veggies, hanging on the vine.

It's not that her neighbors have huge vegetable plots in their back yards, but Daly realizes every tomato she helps send to a food pantry is one that might not otherwise get there. "They may have one or two plants in their yard, or something in the community garden plot," she said.

As far back as Daly can remember, the lawyer-turned-mom worried about the hunger condition in this country. When she was 12, eating one of her mother's legendary meals, she'd think, "I wonder how many pork chops you'd need to feed 100 people?" Now that her children are a little older, Daly has the sort of free time she'd always craved to fight for a cause.

Plant a Row for the Hungry seemed a natural fit.

The program channels extra produce from gardeners to food pantries, soup kitchens and social service agencies. It's also highly flexible for participants and it stays locally focused.

For the second year, the Daily Herald is organizing a campaign for Plant a Row, which was started by the Garden Writer's Association of America five years ago.

This particular cause fit perfectly into Daly's plan. It worked into her schedule perfectly, she knew the members of her church were generous and she had, essentially, a captive audience.

For months, Daly's told her church via the weekly bulletin that she plans to stick around between Sunday services to make her bin available. Come Monday mornings, then, she'll deliver it to one of the drop-off sites for fruits and vegetables set up in five suburban counties.

Not only is her church's leadership supportive, the pastor's helping rally the troops by mentioning her availability during church announcements.

"This might strike someone as a way to help grow God's kingdom and a way to help the poor," the Rev. Michael Nelson said.v If folks already are headed out to church, it's just as easy for them to run out to the garden and pick a few zucchini or tomatoes to donate, he said.

So when Daly asked if she could set up a table in the lobby, Nelson was all for her plan.

"We're all yearning to serve, and need to serve," Nelson said.

"If we can give people the opportunity to do that, we not only do we do them a favor, we do everyone else who will (benefit) from that a favor."

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.

- Catherine Edman