NEWMARKET — When most people think of donations for a food pantry, peanut butter, tuna and canned spaghetti sauce are usually the items near the top of the list.
But Katelyn Clough, administrative assistant at the Newmarket Community Church, is hoping to change that with the construction of a community garden specifically for the church’s food pantry.
“What really made me want to do this was when we’d gotten in some fresh produce and I was volunteering in the food pantry,” Clough explained. “I overheard a person saying it’d been so long since she’d had a fresh banana. I almost cried. They are so used to having canned produce, it was a treat to have a piece of fresh fruit.”
Clough said she’d been thinking of starting a community garden run by volunteers, with all produce given to the food pantry, for about three years, since she joined the church staff.
She put together a committee comprised of herself, Bob Selfe and Cristina Purdum of the Newmarket Community Garden, and residents Addie Tarbell and Sean Murphy. Selfe, in addition to working with the Newmarket Community Garden, also tends the garden at the Sunrise Sunset Senior Center.
“I approached the church, I knew they had the property, and offered to help them start a community garden,” Selfe said.
Last year they did a trial run at the food pantry and it was very well received, according to Clough.
The food pantry does offer produce when it’s donated by local grocery stores, usually stock that is about to go bad, Clough explained.
While the town has a community garden, most of that produce goes to people who volunteer to maintain the 32 plots, according to Purdum. They frequently donate any abundance to the food pantry.
“The two gardens won’t be all that different,” Purdum explained. “They are both about community, dependent upon volunteers, and believing in the same practices. The community garden is self-sustaining. Our hope for the food pantry community garden is that we exceed what we need for the pantry and are able to sell the surplus. Then the profits will go back to the food pantry.”
The committee reached out to many contacts to get donations to get the project rolling. Clough said they have raised close to $1,800. Donors included Blooming Newmarket Garden Club, the Newmarket American Legion, Gather Food Pantry (Portsmouth), the Cheney Companies, Newmarket Boy Scouts and the Newmarket Polish Club.
On Wednesday night, Blooming Newmarket members presented the group with a check for $500.
“Our group is excited to be helping this garden get started, it's a perfect fit with our mission to help promote the love and appreciation of gardening, plus so many people in our community will benefit from what will be grown here,” said Blooming Newmarket President Joan DeYoreo.
The food pantry community garden will be located next to the thrift shop on North Main Street. Over the next week, the volunteers will set up the raised beds they built. They will be planting in the near few weeks and hope that there will be vegetables ready to harvest next month.
“I am going to do a survey of people coming into the food pantry to figure out what types of vegetables they’d most like to have,” Clough said.
The committee is depending upon the philanthropic nature of residents to get the project off the ground. Tarbell is a program coordinator for RSVP, a senior volunteering group that matches seniors to volunteer positions. She will be reaching out to find people to volunteer at the garden. In addition, Clough will reach out to Pines residents to see if there are any residents with green thumbs who want to help.
“The sense of community in Newmarket is so important here,” Purdum said. “Nothing happens by itself. This is a true community. After a recent fire in town, within a couple of hours, it was on Facebook, so many people were reaching out to help. It takes a community to be a community; it makes amazing things happen.”
Selfe agreed that Newmarket is very civic-minded.
“Newmarket is an exceptional town for its size,” he said. “I just want to do my part.”
Tarbell is optimistic the group will find the volunteers needed to keep the project going.
“The produce can be available for clients at the food pantry and we're hoping to have a produce cart at the garden with the day's 'harvest' available to the public, with all proceeds going right back to supporting the food pantry. It's a win-win for the community,” said Tarbell.
Anyone who wants to donate (they are still in need of seedlings and gardening tools) or volunteer should reach out to Clough at the church.
