Friendship Gardens: It's a growing initiative!

May 23, 2011

As Kitchen Manager Sibyl Durant cut garden lettuce, above, for Tuesday's salad for recipients, she said, "It's from some garden, but I don't know which one!" The comment was a testament to the success of the Friendship Gardens collaborative. Now in its third year, the necklace of gardens across Charlotte-Mecklenburg has so many gardens delivering produce for use in the meals-on-wheels program that Durant can't keep track anymore. The collaborative pursues local food, fresher food for recipients and those who tend the gardens. The effort also helps control food costs at Friendship Trays, where donations must cover the portion of costs that the program's ailing and mostly elderly recipients cannot afford. Like Friendship Trays itself, Friendship Gardens depend on a corps of volunteers who plant, water, weed and harvest. If you can help for an hour or more on a regular basis, contact Garden Coordinator Henry Owen.