In late 2017, we surveyed and visited our local pantries to see how we could help. It was clear to us that the pantry leaders were desperate to provide fresh produce for their customers.
In the winter of 2017, Susan Hennigan, a landowner in Red River, reached out to us after reading an article in the local paper about the FRESH Project to see how she could help. Our dreams of growing our own produce to support our local pantries sprouted to reality.
Early spring of 2018, we partnered with Hennigan and a 400 square foot garden was planted.
Approximately 1500 pounds of the produce harvested was donated to our Share the Bounty tables.
As we moved forward to 2023, we expanded our gardens to another 400 square feet, doubling the produce harvested.
In 2024, with the help from Lumberjack RC&D council, we were able to purchase and install two rain gutter systems on the North and South sides of an existing garage on the property to harvest rain water. The rain gutter systems included downspouts into two 350-gallon containers. Each unit had an electric pump and hoses to water the gardens. We bought a gas/battery generator to use for the electric source for the pumps. The F.R.E.S.H. Project harvested more than 4,200 gallons of rainwater during the summer. While we had a wet spring, we were able to fill the water containers 6 times during the summer months which prevented dead plants due to dryness.
The F.R.E.S.H. Project had 8 volunteers each Monday and Thursday morning and harvested a total of 4,919 pounds of produce. In addition, our volunteers maintained the gardens by watering and weeding.
On hot and dry Saturday and Sundays, we had two volunteers water the gardens as needed. Our volunteers logged 256 hours during the weekdays and 147 hours on the weekends.
Pantries/Shelters Served:
SAFPARC – Shawano
Divine Savior – Shawano
St. Michaels – Keshena
Tigerton Food Pantry – Tigerton
Flo’ing With Kindness – Gresham
Safe Haven – Shawano
Goodwill – Shawano
Mattoon Pantry – Mattoon
