Tackling Hunger: Plant A Row for the Hungry and the Chesapeake Bay Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Many different people and organizations are involved throughout the world in confronting the worldwide problem of hunger. The end of hunger is their professed, admirable goal. This hub spotlights one such initiative which is especially interesting for the dedicated, altruistic involvement of individuals who happen to be governmental employees in Annapolis, Maryland, and whose inspiration is a nonprofit association of garden writers in Canada and the United States.

What is hunger?

The esteemed Oxford English Dictionary provides three definitions of the word "hunger" as a noun. The first two definitions are denotations, which are literal meanings.

1. "The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite; also the exhausted condition caused by want of food."

2. "The want or scarcity of food in a country, etc.; dearth; famine."

The third definition is figurative, for it presents connotations, which are the broader associations evoked, imagined, implied, or suggested by hunger.

3. "A strong desire or craving."

All three definitions basically describe a strong feeling which is experienced as a result of lack.

The difference between the first and second definitions is the scale of the experience of hunger. The first difference does not quantify the experiencers whereas the second definition specifies a progression of victims --- "in a country, etc." --- that ultimately may escalate to global proportions.

The Garden Writers Association (GWA) was started in 1948 by the association's founder and first president, Henry Pree (1888-1969), a landscape architect in Cleveland, Ohio. A non-profit association, GWA's membership numbers over 1,800 professional communicators on environmental, gardening, and horticultural topics in the lawn and garden industry. Members encompass diverse backgrounds ranging from horticultural consultants and photographers to landscape designers and architects. The largest percentage, 36.3 percent, are freelance writers.

GWA’s mission is to provide “leadership and opportunities for education, recognition, career development, and a forum for diverse interactions for professionals in the field of garden communication.”

As stated by their Long Range Planning Committee on February 6, 1999, their values focus on “respect, love, and stewardship of gardening, the environment, and our work.”

In 1995 GWA adopted a program envisioned by Anchorage attorney Jeff Lowenfels, who served as GWA president from 1993 to 1995. As a result of a twinge of conscience over refusing to give spare change to a homeless man on a frigid, cold night in Washington, D.C., Jeff had suggested through his weekly garden column in the Anchorage Daily News that readers plant a row of vegetables and donate the produce from that row to Bean’s Café, an Anchorage soup kitchen. The phenomenal local success of Plant a Row for Beans was translated quickly into national success as GWA's Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) and into international success through collaboration with a similar Canadian program, Grow-A-Row.

Started in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1986 by Ron and Eunice O'Donovan with the donation of their bumper backyard potatoes to Winnipeg Harvest, a local food bank, Grow-A-Row teamed up with GWA to form a joint initiative, Plant A Row - Grow A Row.

This international collaboration is further strengthened in Canada by interaction with similar programs in other Canadian provinces such as Un Rang Pour Ceux Qui Ont Faim in Quebec.

(Interestingly, in 2001 Ron and Eunice O'Donovan established another program, Kids Who Care, with Winnipeg Harvest whereby children and teens are recognized for collecting food, hosting food drives, raising money, sorting/packing food in the warehouse, etc., for the Harvest. More than 585 youths have received Kids Who Care awards in the program's first decade. In 2010 children and teens were responsible for donating $911 and 1,700 pounds [771 kilograms] of food to Winnipeg Harvest.)

In Winnipeg, over 1.4 million pounds (635,029 kilos) have been donated by Grow-A-Row since 1986.

In the United States, PAR now has a strong presence in all fifty states. Each pound of produce is calculated as supplementing four meals. Since 1995, over 16 million pounds (7,257,478 kilos) of produce, providing over 60 million meals, have been donated by American gardeners through PAR. This considerable accomplishment continues to be achieved voluntarily by people from all walks of life who give of their time and resources to help others in need.

In 2002, GWA established the Garden Writers Association Foundation as a 501(c)(3) educational charity, with one of its objectives being to "seek to reduce hunger through expansion of public participation in the Plant a Row for the Hungry program."

Further international expansion is imminent. As Jeff Lowenfels observed:

"We've got inquiries from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America. I mean, it's just a phenomenal little program." (Debra McKinney, January 15, 2006)

The Chesapeake Bay Field Office (CBFO) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is located at 177 Admiral Cochrane Drive in Annapolis, Maryland. Its general mission is

"to conserve, protect and enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."

Its specific mission is to protect endangered species and habitats in the area of the Chesapeake Bay, which, as a partially enclosed coastal body of water with oceanic confluence, is the largest estuary (Latin: aestus, "tide, boiling [of the sea]") in the United States.

In 1998, avid gardener and CBFO environmental contaminants biologist Fred Pinkney proposed the dedication of a sun-drenched, unused patch of turf alongside the parking lot to a program which recently had come to his attention, Plant A Row for the Hungry. About ten other CBFO employees joined Fred in setting up a 25 by 25 garden.

The commitment of Fred Pinkney and his Chesapeake Bay Field Office colleagues is exemplified by their harvesting and delivery of produce even as Hurricane Floyd, the third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season, bellowed its fury along the eastern seaboard. Forming as a Cape Verde hurricane, generally the largest and most intense type of tropical storm, on September 7, 1999, Hurricane Floyd pummeled The Bahamas and made landfall near the border of the Carolinas on September 15.

On September 16, Annapolis was drenched with almost 12 inches (30.48 centimeters) of driving rain and pounded with furious winds at 65 miles per hour (104.6 kilometers per hour).

About five miles (8 kilometers) east of the Chesapeake Bay Field Office, the famed 400-year-old Liberty Tree, a tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), was damaged beyond saving by Hurricane Floyd's brutal winds.

Nevertheless, undaunted by the heavy rains and boisterous winds, Fred Pinkney and his colleagues harvested almost 12 pounds of produce from their prolific garden and delivered their bounty before "the biggest part of the storm hit." The treasured harvest comprised:

*** 4 pounds 7 ounces of cucumbers

*** 6 pounds of squash

*** 10 ounces of peppers

*** 10 ounces of tomatoes.

With the last harvest on September 24, the total donation to the food bank and local shelter amounted to 209 pounds for the 1999 season.

In 2011, thirteen years after inception, the Plant A Row for the Hungry garden still thrives in its rabbit-proof fence next to the CBFO parking lot.

The garden is tended voluntarily over lunch break and after hours.

An automatic timer efficiently controls watering in the early morning.

Plantings include cucumbers, eggplants, melons, peppers, pole beans, yellow squash, tomatoes, and zucchini.

In the first decade, from 1998 to 2008, the garden produced 3,000 pounds of cucumbers, melons, peppers, squash, and tomatoes.

Each harvest is donated to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank and to a local shelter, Lighthouse.

On July 5, 2012, CBFO posted a delectable image of the first eggplant of the season on their Facebook page. Also a harvest of 14 pounds was noted. The bounteous fare, which was detailed as basil, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini, was duly delivered to the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis.

According to the Garden Writers Association, over 84 million households in the United States have a garden or a yard. If every potential garden were cultivated with the allotment of only one extra row for donation to local food banks and soup kitchens, a significant impact would be made on reducing the problem of hunger, which affects 37 million Americans, of whom almost 14 million are children. Statistically, one in every eight Americans is faced with hunger each day.

In addition to household gardens, other community resources are available for tackling the serious, often hidden, problem of hunger. The Plant A Row for the Hungry garden at the Chesapeake Bay Field Office of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Annapolis, Maryland, spotlights the creative, humanitarian use of public land and the impressive endeavors of government employees for the benefit of those in need. This commitment entails unpaid contribution of resources and time in addition to startup expenses, which amounted to $150 in 1998 for the CBFO volunteers.

Is it difficult to maintain the initial momentum of pledging to a worthy cause year after year? Apparently not at the Chesapeake Bay Field Office. As Fred explained in an early interview which, he observed, fortunately took place the day before Hurricane Floyd's unforgettable trouncing:

"Participating in the Plant A Row program fits right in with our conservation ethic. Using some of the office grounds to help feed hungry people is consistent with our office's goal of contributing to the community and the staff's personal goals to help people in need." (Debra McKinney, September 17, 1999)

My special thanks to all individuals and organizations --- including those who are recognized in this hub --- who concern themselves with tackling the problem of hunger throughout the world.

“About Hunger in Canada: Facts and Statistics.” Food Banks Canada Banques Alimentaires Canada. http://www.cafb-acba.ca/factsandstats.htm (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

“About Plant a Row * Grow a Row.” Plant a Row Grow a Row, Un Rang Pour Ceux Qui Ont Faim. http://www.growarow.org/about.htm (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

Austin, Jillian. “Small Kids, Big Volunteer Efforts Honoured.” Winnipeg Sun, April 16, 2011. http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2011/04/16/18021411.html (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

Crane, Magan. "Volunteers Lend Green Thumbs to Worthy Cause." The Capital (Annapolis, Maryland), September 17, 1999.

“Hunger Study 2010.” Hunger in America. http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-studies/hunger-study-2010.aspx (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

McKinney, Debra. "Uprooted Man." Anchorage Daily News, January 15, 2006.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online. Electronic version of: Oxford English Dictionary. 2^nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Pinkney, Fred. “Our Own Time.” Helping the Community. September 24, 1999. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service-Chesapeake Bay Field Office. http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/plant2.htm (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

Reshetiloff, Kathy. "Office Staff Digs in for a Worthy Cause." U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service News, January/February 2000.

“U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dept. of the Interior, Chesapeake Bay Field Office.” Greater Annapolis Patch>Places:>Government. http://greaterannapolis.patch.com/listings/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-dept-of-the-interior-chesapeake-bay-field-office (Last accessed August 21, 2011)

Copyright Sunday, August 21, 2011 by Derdriu