Couple donates garden-grown produce to Old Brewery Mission
‘Sometimes it just takes a group of people doing something small’
Susan Argento was close to retiring from her job as a flight attendant with American Airlines when she picked up an inflight magazine and saw an article that would change her retirement plans.
The article was about the residents of a small town in the United States who pooled the extra produce they harvested from their private gardens and donated the surplus to the local mission. Susan thought it was a brilliant idea.
“I’ve never had to be hungry, I’ve never been without people to care for me, my children have never had to miss a meal,” she said. “I’ve always felt that to whom much is given, much is required.”
She lives with her husband in Beaconsfield where many of their neighbours also have large gardens.
“You often have an extra tomato or a zucchini or some cucumbers or something extra,” she said. “By yourself, it’s not a huge contribution but as a group we can make a big difference. “It doesn’t need to take a big effort. Sometimes it just takes a group of people doing something small.”
Last week, Argento started a collection box for surplus produce that she puts out on Tuesdays at her house. On Wednesday morning, she takes whatever her neighbours have donated, and whatever she has in her garden, and drives to Montreal to donate the harvest to the Old Brewery Mission.
Matthew Pearce, director general of the Old Brewery Mission, described the donations as “a tremen- dous gift from the community.”
“We strive to provide nutritious meals daily to hundreds of homeless Montrealers — which is a challenge since a lot of the food we serve is donated,” he said.“It’s especially nice to be able to offer fresh, local produce to our clients.”
According to Argento, it is a little early in the season to start harvesting, and she isn’t hopeful for a large haul until August.
Her husband, Dominick, said their first harvest wasn’t great, but they are hoping to get the attention of their community for the late summer season when people’s gardens are yielding the best crops.
“We’re also looking into contacting Jean-Talon Market to see if their fruit and vegetable vendors would donate what isn’t sold by the end of the day,” Dominick said.
“The only problem is that at the end of the day, their produce is very ripe and probably won’t last long.”
But he feels that getting fresh produce from their neighbours would be better.
“It will last a couple of days so it’s easier to deliver and distribute,” he said.
“If it goes well I thought next year we could maybe expand it,” Susan said.
“Do Beaconsfield Tuesday, Kirkland Wednesday. Maybe we could supplement them so much that for a few months in the summer (the Old Brewery Mission) could reduce their food budget for the summer and put their money toward the rest of the year.”
The Argentos are encouraging everyone in the community with a little extra produce to drop by their house at 37 Devon St. in Beaconsfield on Tuesdays and donate what they can.