Tuesday March 27 at 7:00 pm the DeKalb County Community Gardens group will hold their third organizing meeting at the Unitarian Church at 158 North 4th Street in DeKalb. All citizens interested in being a part of this effort to ease hunger in our county and build community at the same time are urged to attend.
“We have over 20 dedicated individuals from clergy, social service agencies, farmers, the U of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners, DeKalb Area Gardening Club, educators, and others who care about the issue of hunger as well as the desire to see more wholesome vegetables available to more citizens.” Said Dan Kenney co-coordinator of the group. “We want to provide an opportunity for people to provide for themselves. This is about teaching folks to fish not just handing them a fish.”
The project is creating a non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting and initiating community gardening opportunities for citizens through out DeKalb County.
Community gardens are an effective strategy for our county for several reasons. First there is the issue of food insecurity. The number of children living in poverty has risen from 10.1% in 2007-2008 to 18.3% in 2009-2010. We have several pockets or sections of our county that would be considered “food deserts,” because families and individuals are cut-off from ready and easy access to wholesome foods. There are also sections of the county that do not have easy access to supermarkets. Community gardens also provide opportunities to learn about food production, develop job skills, increase agriculture literacy, generate food-related businesses, and create links to area feeding centers.
“We are targeting areas for garden sites and planning our out-reach to citizens all over DeKalb County,” Kenney added, “when we have so much space and live in an agricultural area there is no reason for a child to go to bed hungry during the growing season.”
There has been a strong and growing outpouring of support for the effort Kenney reported. Any one who would like to be part of the effort either to grow your own food or assist others in growing theirs are encouraged to attend.
“You don’t have to know a lot about gardening to be part of the effort. We want any one who cares about community or wholesome food to become involved. “
For further information call Dan Kenney 815-793-0950
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where are the community gardens located?