College garden yields bonanza for the needy
FOOD BANKS TO SHARE IN HARVEST
Lethbridge wildlife have enjoyed some nibbles. But on Monday, volunteer gardeners harvested about 1,000 pounds of vegetables to be shared by local families and students.
For the fourth summer, seniors from the city’s Bhutanese community planted, cultivated and then dug up potatoes, squash and other vegetables in a garden at Lethbridge College. Their results of their efforts will be shared by the Lethbridge Food Bank and a parallel service run by the college students’ association.
For the seniors, “It’s a sense of giving back to the community,” says Marlene Cocken, a program manager with the Immigrant Services branch at Lethbridge Family Services.
“They have pride and passion for gardening,” she points out, learned many years ago in Asia.
Some are now 80 or older but Cocken says they’ve caught a bus to the college, day after day during the growing season. Some have also cultivated a garden at their home.
Over the summer, she says, they’ve contended with the weeds, the heat and the intruders. Ground squirrels have found their way through barriers around the garden, she adds — and deer have jumped over the fences.
But this year’s harvest is far larger than last summer, says college recreation manager JP Gentile.
The intense heat last year seriously hampered the crops.
College students volunteer to till the land each spring, he says.
The students' association provides the seeds, and uses its share of the harvest to provide fresh produce for students who face financial distress during their college years.
The student association’s food bank operates through the year, he adds providing food hampers for 20 to 30 students each month. The food bank also provides non-perishable foods, he says, along with gift cards for basics like milk, fruit and vegetables through the year.
Meanwhile the Lethbridge Food Bank and the Interfaith Food Bank work in tandem to help provide fresh food and staples for families throughout the community, officials noted.
For the college, says Gentile, “building collaborative partnerships with likeminded community organizations (helps) build a brighter future and better tomorrow for Lethbridge and community.”