As the Memorial Hospital Foundation begins a second year of its garden project, it is soliciting volunteers to help with tasks including planting, weeding, harvesting, and delivering produce.
Last year the hospital planted about three-fourths of an acre at the Lodge located along South Newton Street.
This year the project the project has expanded to a two-acre plot, with intention of getting the produce to “food deserts” and food banks in several counties in the hospital’s service area.
The national nonprofit hunger-relief organization Feeding America says 10.8 percent of Dubois County’s population was “food insecure” in 2013, the most recent year for which the statistics are available. That means more than 4,500 county residents had limited or uncertain access to healthy and safe food.
Feeding America numbers for surrounding counties include 12.6 percent in Spencer County; 13.3 percent in Pike County; 13.1 percent in Martin County; and 12.5 percent in Daviess County.
To volunteer, contact Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Mike Jones at 812-996-8428 or at mjones@mhhhc.org.
