Gilpin County Food Bank Garden

by Sandy Hollingsworth Sometimes one’s love for gardening blossoms into a way to contribute to your local community. In Gilpin County there is a food bank for those living food insecure. It was started in 1995 by county Human Services and need has grown more rapidly in the past four years to now serve an average of 70 families a week. There is also a weekly summer lunch program for children, averaging 50 monthly, to come and select food from items displayed in a welcoming way. Like many food pantries fresh produce is lacking among the donated foods. To help address this need, a group of volunteers decided to install new beds at the nearby CSU Extension community garden located at 9200 foot elevation, to plant, tend and harvest produce each week. An experienced gardener already volunteering for the Food Bank recruited a Colorado Master Gardener and three waterers who set up a schedule to insure the gardens were nurtured throughout the growing season. In May we started by constructing tw