Community Garden Interest High

SNOW HILL – Plans are underway to scout locations and garner support for community gardens in Worcester County.

On Wednesday, members of the community and officials with the Worcester County Health Department met in a public interest meeting to share ideas and resources for an initiative that will establish community gardens in the area.

Kat Gunby, the health department’s prevention director and facilitator for the meeting, said the health department decided to host a public interest meeting after several residents expressed a need and desire for community gardens at an annual public health conference held last April.

“We listened to our community partners and there was this big interest and need,” she said.

Gunby said the health department was unsuccessful in securing grant funding to build the community gardens, but decided to ask the community for its help.

“Despite not getting the grant funding we said, ‘Let’s take this to the community and see what we can come up with,’” she said.

While several community gardens have emerged in Worcester County, Gunby said most were not accessible to everyone.

She said the health department’s vision is to establish one to three community gardens in poor and underserved areas and areas of the county that are considered food deserts, or places with limited access to affordable and nutritious meals. The gardens would then be maintained by and for the neighborhoods.

Health officials, dieticians, volunteer coordinators and those with expertise in community gardens were readily available to offer guidance and to make the health department’s vision a reality.

Neelam Strom, a Pocomoke resident who started the Pocomoke Downtown Community Garden, told attendees she started the town’s community garden not with grants, but with donations, land, water and the support of local officials.

While the Downtown Community Garden has seen its share of volunteers, Strom said she often has to find willing community members to maintain the garden.

“No one has interest in the community,” she said. “I have to seek them out.”

Gunby said community interest would be a significant factor in selecting locations for a garden.

“The neighborhood has to want it,” she said.

Bob Younglove, an Ocean City resident and health coach, suggested a community garden that invests in Tower Gardens, a hydroponic and aeroponic system he said uses less space and requires less maintenance.

Younglove explained Tower Gardens are more accessible to children, those with limited mobility and communities with limited space.

He expressed his interest in the community garden and the healthy options it gives residents.

“The food you grow is much more nutritious than what you buy at the market,” he said.

With several ideas and suggestions on the table, many of the attendees at the meeting volunteered to be on a planning committee, which will further discuss where the gardens will be place, how they will be maintained and ways to involve the community.

“I think this is a great start … I’m really excited for what we are going to do together,” Gunby said.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.