Commons Wednesdays in April

From The Commons Garden
~by Kristin Lundgren

Each year when spring comes around I fail to remember just how busy life gets in the garden. Here we are, though, right in the middle of a whole lot of buzzing. The flowers on our fruit trees are starting to fade, bees and other pollinators are doing their work on the new spring flowers, our winter greens are uncovered and ready for harvest, and the greenhouse is overflowing with starts.We have also had lots of human visitors in the garden. In March, The Commons hosted a statewide FoodCorps retreat with our partners from different organizations. Students visited from Aldo Leopold Community Orientation class, the Recreation Center, the Community Youth Building Program, and worked in the gardens planting starts, raspberries, and helping us with building our new and improved living walkway.

I have also organized a WILL class on Gardening in the High Desert with three sessions covering a wealth of topics. This class has made me realize how much there is to teach about and learn from in the garden. There will be ongoing garden classes through our Common Wednesday program for the month of April. Every 2nd Wednesday of the month is our garden workshop day!

Ours isn't the only garden we're working on, either. We have also organized a shed building party at the Jose Barrios school garden! Parents, teachers, Rotary Club members and more attended a Saturday work party. We constructed a shed, built benches for 6th St., Harrison Schmitt, and Jose Barrios school gardens, and did crafts to attract birds and people to the gardens! Busy bees, aren't we?

Vote for The Commons!!!

This month Rita is working on the Seeds for Change Grant. Please help us by visiting the link below and voting today!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW

We have three projects underway that are in need of further funding: Rooted will give youth tools to enhance and sustain our local food economy through place based skills around growing, preparing, and marketing food products. Our bio-regional Mesquite Project has the potential to economically empower anyone willing to grab a bucket and harvest mesquite pods. The Commons Wednesdays series sparks discussion and exploration of how and what we eat through films, garden time, cooking together, and conversations around a communal table.

Help US Grow Our Future!
CLICK HERE AND VOTE TODAY!
You may vote only once per calendar day, per entry, from 3/30/17 to 4/19/17.The top 50 eligible organizations (25 schools and 25 community organizations) with the most votes move on to the judging phase.

Food Pantry Cash Donations Amplify in our Local Economy
~by John Conway

(Volunteer Howard Smith prepping for donation at Gila Food Pantry.)

Many people have recently asked, "What's better... donating food directly or donating cash" towards Food Pantry efforts.

Clearing home pantries of food not likely to be consumed before real expiration is a good thing and that food will usually end up in someone's food box quickly.

Comparing cash donations with food purchased specifically to go to a food pantry, cash is king. Not only will cash purchase more pounds of food due to the food bank system partnership but the dollars spared in food pantry clients' budgets generally get spent (turned over) in our local economy.

Here's how it works. Through our partnership with RoadRunner Food Bank and their partnership with Feeding America, we can purchase nutritious, quality food for $0.19 per pound (including meat frozen before expiration date) or less. We run a tight ship and our administrative costs are only 17% of what we produce. That adds 3 cents to the $0.19 and net $0.22/lb. of food we purchase. Lots of produce comes at no cost with the food purchased from RoadRunner, but it's the grocery items we buy through RoodRunner that gets the produce here.

Part 2 .... next month!

Spotlight on Gila Mobile Food Pantry

(Volunteers: Doug Boswell, Mary Foote, Barry Allison, and Barrett Brewer,prepping for donation at Gila Mobile Food Pantry.)

Gila Valley Mobile Food Pantry originated when Alicia Edwards, then Director of The Volunteer Center, called Barrett Brewer to pull together a "cadre of volunteers." The pantry was initially funded from a Roadrunner Grant, supplemented by the Benwood Foundation, and restricted to serving only seniors in 50 households. Today, Gila Valley Mobile Food Pantry's primary funder is Single Socks of Silver City, This funding is supplemented with donation monies raised at Give Grandly each year.

In 2016, the pantry served 34,848 meals valued at $69,835.39 to approximately 76 households....with no age restrictions.

"It is a wonderful, non-orchestrated dance that repeatedly demonstrates that order emerges from chaos," says Joanne DeMichele about Food Pantry distribution days. The volunteers exhibited solid teamwork, while laughing and chatting with each other. A steady stream of food boxes flow out to clients' cars in the parking lot of the Cliff Fairgrounds.

The "office ladies," Sandra Riva, Kate Kendig, Rita Larson, and Joann Collins sign up new clients, sign in registered people, and hand out numbers so people can collect the food in an orderly way. Early in the day, the local LDS Church delivers tables for use. Barrett Brewer oversees the sorting and distribution of food. Ama Rivers is in charge of bread products. Howard Smith, Sharman Russell, and Max Peru good-naturedly call themselves "burros." With wheelbarrows loaded with food boxes, they hustle back and forth from the pantry to clients' cars. Other volunteers do tasks as the need arises. Laura Evans, April Crosby and others collect and deliver food boxes to those who are homebound. At the end of the day Emanuel Stamler breaks down the boxes and does the dump run while other volunteers sweep and clean-up.

The Volunteer Center salutes Gila Valley Mobile Food Pantry! Thank you for all your teamwork.
Check this link out for pictures of all the volunteers who help in Gila! Click to see more photos

Volunteer Opportunities

Commons Garden
We can always use volunteers who love working with the earth, with planting, with weeding, with composting.... in other words all the work needed to make a garden THRIVE! Come in & talk with Kristin.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
TO OUR COMMUNITY!

The Volunteer Center of Grant County,
501 East 13th St, PO Box 416, Silver City, NM 88062