The Vankleek Hill Food Bank opened a garden earlier this year to help encourage people to grow their own food. Following the staggering success of the pilot project in the spring of 2021, they have received a financial boost of $12,000 from Volunteers Prescott-Russell which allowed them to continue the program into the fall as well as expanding next year.

The purpose of the Garden Program is to teach people how to grow their own food, as well as providing an outdoor, social outlet during the harder times of the pandemic. They now have more options on what they can eat instead of just getting the groceries that the food bank gives them. This project, despite being time-consuming for the Food Bank volunteers, has proven to be fruitful, providing mental health benefits at a minimal cost. 

Jane Fantie, a Co-director for the Vankleek Hill Food Bank believes that “food insecurity is a big issue for most families'' and that this program is educational, encouraging families to be more creative when cooking their own meals at home.

Community partners have been “invaluable partners” for the success of this project, with Gran Barn donating an extra garden bed for each one purchased and Champlain Library and Foodland Vankleek Hill donating seeds to get the project started. 

“whether it's donating to our foodbank garden or the endless fundraisers of brown bags that people can purchase on site that have non-perishable goods in them that the food bank uses on a regular basis [we could not have done it without them],” said Jane.

Thanks to the Community Innovation Grant the garden is only now winding down for the winter, with garlic bulbs being planted and a variety of squash, leeks, potatoes and more already cultivated. 

A “tool sharing program” as well as more plots are part of the 2022 expansion and Jane is optimistic that they will learn from this year’s pilot project with extra garden beds, tools and even knee pads being purchased for this growing project that will resume next spring.