Key Points In rural areas, working with local volunteer groups, especially ones with similar missions, is often easier than recruiting volunteers by other means Having quality volunteers requires an established incentive structure for gleaning events (i.e. volunteers need to know they will be allowed to…
Key Points Branding and name recognition are very important to the success of any nonprofit venture In rural areas, radio is an effective medium for public campaign announcements In rural areas, maintaining a social media page outside of Facebook is most likely a waste of…
Key Points Location and committed management are important to the success of a community garden. Fencing needs to extend underground in some areas to deter ground squirrels and other burrowing animals. Donated plants may not be very productive if received too late in an already…
Key points Before committing to gleaning or purchasing from any orchard (commercial or residential) consider: o Height of the trees o Condition of the ladders o Quality of fruit o Amount of volunteer…
In 2011, Providence Health Care Stevens County identified hunger as one of the leading issues in Stevens County. With the goal of finding gaps in services, fourteen of the region’s leading organizations in supplemental food distribution were brought together to discuss the challenges they faced. What resulted was…
Key Points Even when large amounts of summer squash, cucumbers, and other prolific vegetables are being donated by local gardeners, food pantries will still gladly accept the same produce from commercial growers because of its higher quality. Distribution is often the greatest barrier to providing…
There are several community gardens in northeast Washington. The two largest are in Colville and Kettle Falls, which are both towns with very active food pantries open four days a week. The community garden in Colville is owned and operated by a local church. This year they saw a continuing decrease in the number of individuals renting gardening plots..