ANDOVER — Those who love gardening and a good cause need look no further than South Church’s Giving Garden.
The Giving Garden, located in North Andover, is nearly half an acre of land dedicated to growing crops that are donated to local food pantries.
The idea for the garden emerged in 2015 when a group of South Church parishioners with a shared passion for gardening wanted to help combat food insecurity locally with help from other faith groups.
They began searching for the perfect place to lay down roots and settled on the Rolling Ridge Conference Center, where they struck an unconventional rent agreement. South Church agreed to give 10% of their crops each season to the center and in exchange they were allowed to use the land.
Alongside their 10% contribution to Rolling Ridge, the gardeners donates the rest of their crops to its partners, Neighbors in Need, Lazarus House, and the Peoples Pantry.
Once the volunteers secured the venue, they got to work planting and later harvesting their crops. However, the group quickly learned more volunteers were necessary and decided to open the opportunity to all.
“The plan was to get other church communities involved, but it’s gone far beyond that in terms of the range of volunteers,” said Melinda Taranto-Garnis, board member and volunteer at the Giving Garden.
As the garden opened itself up to new volunteers, it began to flourish in a new way. Now, with the help of local corporations, Girl and Boy Scout troops, Merrimack College students, and others, they have amassed more than 600 volunteers.
They grow everything from blueberries to bok choy from April to November and cater especially to the specific needs of their clients.
“We serve a lot of Hispanics, a lot of Asian clients as well in the area, and we’re very interested in growing things that they like. We’re certainly not going to grow things that people aren’t interested in,” Taranto-Garnis said.
The garden accepts volunteers both young and old, experienced or not and will educate them on whatever task they are interested in.
“We’re very willing to teach people and show them how things are done,” Taranto-Garnis said.
Education outside of the garden is just as much of a priority, as the group likes to remind volunteers of its mission.
“I think that living in this area we cannot always be in touch with the need around us. So, there was a real desire to educate volunteers not only in gardening, but also in the need that’s around us,” Taranto-Garnis said.
For more information, visit https://southchurch.com/garden.
Currently, the garden is thriving, having grown 10,000 pounds of produce last season, but Taranto-Garnis feels the real reward is the impact.
“That was a very sweet achievement, but I think that just as important is the fact that we’re raising people’s awareness of the food insecurity in our area,” she said.