Released March 31, 2009
STILLWATER, Okla. – When those zucchini and tomato plants start producing, many gardeners find themselves with an abundance of vegetables. Gardeners who choose to take part in the Plant a Row for the Hungry can be assured the extra food will not go to waste.
Kim Rebek, host of the popular television program Oklahoma Gardening, said Plant a Row for the Hungry is a people-helping-people approach to addressing hunger and malnutrition. The program was started in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association of America. (http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=par/index.html)
“This season on the show we are encouraging gardeners to plant an extra row of produce and donate their surplus to food banks, soup kitchens and other service organizations in their communities,” Rebek said. “We have a new vegetable garden in our studio garden where we will be growing lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, as well as other produce. We will donate the extra food to local food pantries in Stillwater.”
Rebek said she introduced the Plant a Row for the Hungry during a show that aired March 14, but will be checking back on the program throughout this season.
“We want viewers to let us know what they are doing in their own communities and we will share these updates on the show,” she said. “We’ll also provide updates on how much produce is donated from our own garden at the Oklahoma Gardening studio.”
According to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Web site, Oklahoma ranks seventh in the nation at 13 percent in the number of people who are food insecure. The USDA defines food insecure as being hungry at times during the year due to lack of money for food. In 2008, the CFBEO received more than 5,000 pounds of food through the Plant a Row for the Hungry program.
Plant a Row for the Hungry began in Anchorage, Alaska, in the garden column of Jeff Lowenfels, former Garden Writers Association president. He asked his readers to plant a row of vegetables for a local soup kitchen. The program was so successful he introduced it to GWA as a national program.
It took five years to reach the first million pounds of donated produce. The next million was reached in only two years, and in the next eight years, more than a million pounds of food was donated each year. This is a significant contribution considering that each pound of produce supplements four meals.
Since 1995, more than 14 million pounds of produce providing more than 50 million meals have been donated by American gardeners.
Rebek said there is a lot of interest in growing vegetables, and she is seeing even more interest this year as seed sales are going up.
“For those of you who are new to gardening or simply need some additional information, I encourage you to contact your local OSU Cooperative Extension office,” she said. “For more than 30 years Oklahoma Gardening has been helping people make the most of their gardens. Now viewers are in a position where they can help others,” Rebek said. “With all of us working together it takes us a step closer to fighting hunger and malnutrition in Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma Gardening airs on local OETA stations every Saturday at 11 a.m. and every Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
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Contact: Trisha Gedon, 405-744-3625, trisha.gedon@okstate.edu
