Good Life
‘We, Not Me’ food growing program carries on in Centre County despite pandemic. Here’s how to help
A group of Centre County farmers’ annual effort to grow food for local food banks and related organizations looks a little different this year. In the past, the “We, Not Me” community food growing program has partnered with the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences to grow the donated produce, last year donating more than 25,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables to community organizations.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent new restrictions at Penn State, however, the program’s leaders, Kenneth Lipson and Bill Zimmer, are taking a different approach to their cause.
“(Penn State) is trying very hard to provide us with produce as they did last year,” Zimmer said. “The only difference is, they’re not allowing volunteers out there, for the protection of their staff. So what’s happening is, they, to the best of their ability, are going to try to harvest plots they’ve allocated to us, as well as plots professors are using in their research. ... The difference is, they’ll have to do that all themselves.”
Unfortunately, due to this year’s changes, it remains unclear what quantity or produce Penn State will be able to donate to the cause. So, Lipson and Zimmer are stepping up their efforts and engaging the wider community to ensure area food banks still receive the summer produce they need.
“They’re hugely busy out there (at Penn State) ... so for them to do anything ... is wonderful. We’re eternally grateful, but we just don’t know to what capacity they’ll be able to provide (produce) without volunteers,” Zimmer said.
Lipson added: “Our intent is to fill their void. I don’t think we will be able to supply everything they did last year, but we’re filling in a good amount.”
Both Lipson and Zimmer expanded their own amount of land dedicated to growing for the food banks and quickly set up a GoFundMe campaign to cover some of the growing costs.
The pair set a goal of $2,500 and almost doubled it.
“We blew past (our goal) and it was all local people who just wanted to get involved,” Lipson said. The GoFundMe campaign and promotions for the cause likewise resulted in “excess of 50 volunteers that just wanted to help.”
Funds raised will go toward basic agricultural costs such as fencing to keep deer away from crops, water hoses, potting soil, seeds, fertilizer, small tools and more. Larger equipment, such as tractors, are provided by the team. Any funds leftover after costs are covered will be donated to area food banks for use as they see fit.
Zimmer and Lipson assure they’ve now raised enough money and recruited enough volunteers to last the season (with all volunteers following strict social distancing guidelines while working the plots, planting, removing rock and other tasks), but what they would really like to see at this point, they say, is more homeowners stepping up and volunteering a portion of land and their labor to grow needed produce.
“We’d really like to get someone like us who can allocate a half acre or acre to the cause, but that’s (also) not necessary,” Zimmer said. “For example, just yesterday, I laid out part of my plot for tomatoes and the plot I allocated was 30 by 30 foot. I’m planting 100 tomato plants in there. The point is, with not a huge space, for certain things, you can grow a lot. We would be interested in people stepping up to be able to grow something in not necessarily 2,000 square feet, but it can be 600, 800 or 1,000 square feet.”
This year, Zimmer said, a conservative estimate of how much produce he, Lipson and other local farmers can donate would be around 18,000 pounds, without any assistance from Penn State. Produce will include cauliflower, broccoli, squash, lettuce, potatoes, yellow and green beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, kale and more. The produce will go to approximately 20 organizations, including not only food banks, but also churches that offer community dinners, youth centers, local YMCAs, Centre Safe, Taproot Kitchen and more.
“I think it’s absolutely amazing how quickly this grew, how many people have gotten involved so quickly,” Lipson said. “Last year, it was Jim, myself, Bill (Boyce), Karen (Robinson) and a few people. All the sudden, with volunteers and all, it’s probably 60 or 70 people involved. It’s been heart-warming, the reaction in the community. I think it can grow in the next years.”.
Anyone interested in growing produce to donate to the “We, Not Me” community food growing program can contact Zimmer at billzimm@verizon.net.
Comments