THE
NEED IS GREAT
PAR is
a people-helping-people program for home gardeners interested in helping
the hungry in their own communities. The food banks are in a crunch.
Every year commercial food processors and supermarkets become more
efficient. They have fewer odd lots, fewer market test remains, fewer
mislabeled cans and packages to deliver to food banks.
According to the US
Conference of Mayors study on hunger and homelessness, about 19 percent
of the requests for emergency food went unfulfilled in 1997. Over 35
million in the USA face hunger often, if not daily. This Situation is
similar in Canada. There's an
urgent need for the Plant a Row - Grow a Row campaign. Only you can make it work.
Although we've set a goal
of raising a million pounds of donations by the millennium, (this was
achieved in the USA) PAR isn't about tonnage. It's about community, a
means through which 70,000,000 gardeners can help the 35,000,000 men,
women and children who often go hungry.
ABOUT
PAR
Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) Plant
A Row - Grow A Row are public service campaigns of the
Garden Writers Association (GWA). Its goals are to raise a
million pounds of garden produce for the hungry by the millennium, and
to establish a PAR network in every US state and Canadian province.
Launched in 1995 PAR has been endorsed by gardening organizations
such as Master Gardeners, the American Community Gardening Association,
the National Garden Bureau, The American Nurserymen and Landscapers
Association, the Scotts
Company, SunGro,
Fafard Soilless Mixes, Safe Science, Inc. and
hundreds of seeds men and nurseries.
STEP
1: JOINING THE PAR CAMPAIGN
PAR
is rooted in the tradition of sharing bountiful 
garden harvests with
others. The plan is simple. GWA are asking you to plant an
additional row in your garden and deliver the harvest to a food
collection agency near you. You can participate as an individual, team
up with friends or social groups, or possibly even start your own PAR
campaign in your community.
STEP2:
PLANTING A ROW
No
matter how little space you have to plant additional row of vegetables
for giving, you can make a great contribution! We welcome whatever
you can give. If you regularly plant too much, the excess will
mean a great deal to your community soup kitchen or food pantry.
Even if your garden consists of only ornaments or a planter on a condo
balcony add a few Herbs. Herbs are welcome because they add
nutrients as well as flavour to food.
What the food
pantries,
food banks and soup kitchens need most is firm clean fruits and durable
vegetables. If you have space, plant a row of any of broccoli,
cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, peas, green beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplants,
summer squash, zucchini, winter squash, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic
or peaches, apples, pears, plums etc.
STEP
3: DELIVERING THE HARVEST
You
can get the addresses of the nearest food bank or soup kitchen that
needs fresh produce from any church organizations that helps the needy
or from the Social Services department in your hometown.
