His love of gardening is rooted in feeding the hungry

Larry Grabowski "did his own thing" for years when it came to spreading around the extra zucchini his garden invariably produced.

No, he didn't leave them on neighbors' - or strangers' - doorsteps at 3 a.m.

He enthusiastically delivered them to folks who were actually happy to see them: workers at food pantries or homeless people he saw in and around Chicago.

And that made him think: "Don't all gardeners grow too much to eat?" Couldn't they make a huge dent in the needs of area food pantries?

Chicago, meet Larry Grabowski, the man who vows to conquer your city's gardeners on behalf of the less fortunate.

"There's so much that can be done," the LaGrange man declares. It's his personal mantra.

If every gardener donated just a few vegetables, he reasons, food pantries and soup kitchens across the city and sub-urbs would have more than enough fresh, nutrition-packed food to offer every client.

The Daily Herald has organized and sponsored a local Plant a Row for the Hungry campaign for the past three years; but the campaign includes only those five counties - or portions of counties - the newspaper covers.

Plant a Row is a national campaign promoted by the Garden Writer's Asso-ciation of America that encourages gardeners to plant extra in their gardens to donate to food pantries. It also urges them to deliver any surplus from their regular plantings.

Grabowski is helping expand that plea across Chicago and into suburban areas that are not yet participating.

Grabowski, a retiree, and his son, Jeff, got a list of churches in the Chicago Archdiocese and started contacting those with food pantries or similar out-reach programs. After poring through half the list, he's already come up with more than 30 sites where gardeners can deliver their produce.

"We stopped after a certain point," he said, "and started working on the supply: getting the word to gardeners."

The Grabowski duo is set to talk to master gardeners in Cook County during September, to pitch the program and ask for help. They've already put together a Web site, and purchased a domain name - www.parchicago.com - now they need help contacting food pantries about the program and spreading the word to Windy City gardeners for the 2002 growing season.

"There's so much that can be done," Grawbowski says, again.

His effort also extends to his own back yard.

This summer, he delivered more than 60 pounds of lettuce grown in the 11 raised garden beds he maintains, and more than 220 pounds of vegetables, overall, to pantries.

In the days before Plant a Row, and prior to his retirement, he would simply take a pan full of fresh tomatoes with him to work downtown, and hand the fruit to homeless people he'd pass.

It was a gift that was well received.

Now, he wants others - gardeners across the region - to share in the joy of giving, as well.