Consider Donating Your Excess Produce

If you are or know a backyard gardener blessed with the sun, soil, rain and luck to give you more produce than you can use, please consider sharing it with your local food shelf. People who use food shelves are our neighbors who have fallen on hard times.

Food shelves will gladly accept produce from both organic and non-organic gardens.  Do not worry if your apples have some harmless blemishes, if the tomatoes are not yet perfectly red (they will ripen even after they are harvested) or if your red peppers are still green. If you would feed the produce to your family, it is perfect for the food shelf. Food that is spoiled, damaged, has insect holes, or burst skin should be put into your compost pile instead.

Produce can be dropped off at Second Harvest Food Bank, Monday through Thursday from 8am – 5pm and Friday from 8am – 12pm.  Morning drop offs are preferable as we can then give the perishables out that day. For more information, call Second Harvest Food Bank at 326-4420 ext. 25.

Earlier this week, Second Harvest Food Shelf customers left with not only food from the shelves, but with a variety of garden plants including tomato, cabbage, Swiss chard, purple cabbage, celery, and a variety of herbs to grow at home. Thank you to Beier's Greenhouse and Grand Rapids Greenhouse for their donation of plants that will help people experience growing and producing some of their own fresh and healthy food.