The Giving Garden

The Giving Garden is an effort to bring our community together through the planting, caring, and harvesting of a shared garden whose produce will be used to supplement the Elba Food Bank, a collaborative effort of multiple area churches. Restoration 154, a nonprofit, is responsible for coordinating the effort. The Giving Garden committee (made up of 8 individuals with a vast amount of gardening experience between them) has been responsible for the planning of the garden and will be overseeing its development.The Elba City School Agriculture classes have already begun building the boxes for the raised beds. 5 teams have been identified to work portions of the garden and other teams are being recruited. The Elba Ministerial Alliance will be responsible for distributing the harvest through the Elba Food Bank.

The garden plant date will be September 20th, 2014. Due to the small window between the release of funds and the plant date, much of the work will be underway before the money comes in; however, thanks to donations of materials and labor, a lot can be accomplished during this timeframe. The boxes for the raised beds are currently being built by the Elba High School Agriculture class. Some preliminary lot work has been performed and more will be performed by Giving Garden committee members in the weeks leading up to the plant date. Tools and some seeds have been donated to the project as well. Upon release of the funds, soil, plants, any additional seeds needed, and irrigation hoses/piping will be purchased. Soil will be delivered to the site. Team members and committee members will work during the week leading up to plant date to make sure everything will be ready for planting on the 20th. Funds collected above the cost of the necessary items, will be used toward the purchasing of fruit trees and/or the construction of fencing, toolshed, and benches.

The struggle of many families within our community is evident (more than 80% of the students enrolled in Elba City Schools are on free and reduced lunch).  The Elba Food Bank was created to help these families and has served well over 10,000 people since its inception in 2011.  The Giving Garden aims to help the food bank in its mission by supplementing its distribution with nutritious produce.