The Ellwood City Community Garden is seeking volunteers to cultivate garden plots to benefit those in need, and the best part about it is you don’t have to have gardening experience or provide supplies, you just have to be willing to help.
“We are always looking for more volunteers and more interest and community support,” said Kelly Brack, the program’s leader. Always looking for more volunteers more interest and community support. “I think even with the 50 beds I don’t think we come close to touching the need. But we are providing a need for produce.”
The Elwood City Community Garden is a collaborative project between the Borough of Ellwood city, the local food bank, community volunteers, and local businesses. The garden, located on Sims Street in Ewing Park, is composed of raised beds, each planted, tended to, and harvested by a local family or organization.
The harvest is donated to the Ellwood City Food Bank in an effort to increase access to fresh, nutrient-dense produce for community members in need. The Food Bank serves more than 600 families in the local and surrounding areas.
For more than 10 years, the Ellwood City Community Garden has been providing nutrients to area families. The program started off with about four or five beds at the old site of Holy Redeemer Social Services on Bridge Street. Those beds were installed by the then Borough Manager, and community advocate, Domenic Viccari. With the support of grants and the community volunteers, the bed count grew to about 30 beds before social services was moved downtown. Soon after David Allen, the Borough Manager at that time, applied for grants to be able to start the Garden at a new location. Now at the Sims Street location there are about 51 raised beds awaiting planting for this season. Brack said there is a core group of 10 volunteers and that sometimes there have been up to 30 volunteers, but the more the merrier.
And although the group is constantly growing in the pounds of produce cultivated each year—starting off with 300 to 400 pounds, growing about 500 pounds in 2022, and finally 2023 was the record year with 1,064 pounds—there is always a need for more.
“I think even with the 50 beds we don’t come close to touching the need. But we are working hard to meet that need for produce in the community.”
In addition to the garden beds, there is also a Share the Harvest, dropbox at the Sims Street location where community members can drop off excess produce from their own home gardens. Brack said items like tomatoes, zucchini, and others have been dropped off at the box.
“The box is a nod to Dom,” Brack said. “He always said share the harvest, so the box is in honor of him.”
There are many ways to help the Ellwood City Community Garden including:
- Signing up to cultivate a small, 4×4 garden plot with responsibilities including planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting (remember, materials will be provided, and no gardening experience is required)
- Donating supplies or money for upkeep and plants
Brack is a nutritionist, so she knows the importance of a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
“I like to help people eat better and also have food security,” she said. “The amount of people who experience food insecurity in our area is alarming. We want to make sure they have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. People are excited to get our produce and are happy about it.”
If you are interested in either volunteering or donating, please contact Kelly Brack, garden@ellwoodborough.com, 724-816-5193.
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