Hunger & Poverty Prevention Partnership

• Community Awareness & Education - educating the community about hunger and poverty.

  Legislative Advocacy - helping individuals obtain a greater income and prevent food insecurity.currently looking for new members

  Resource Development - focusing on improving and coordinating resources.

  Giving Gardens - new leadership, new name, and new committees, join today!

• MOBILE PANTRY - delivering food to those in rural areas.
• EMPTY BOWLS -
  annual fundraiser
• GRANTS - for those fighting to prevent hunger & poverty.
• MAILING LIST - semi-annual
  e-news, sign up today!

Giving Gardens...formerly known as community gardens

Community businesses and organizations help fight hunger by developing and tending a community garden. The harvest goes to needy families. This team works to establish community gardens throughout Portage County. These gardens help increase a family's food security by providing healthy and nutritious fresh produce. Currently there are nine gardens whose entire harvest is donated to food pantries.

Chairs: Currently looking for new leadership

The outrage of hunger amidst plenty will never be solved by experts somewhere. It will only be solved when people like you and me decide to act.

• Donate garden supplies: seeds, plants, compost, tools, gloves
Volunteer at a garden
Contribute land/space for a garden
Help distribute produce to drop-off site

Volunteer or Donate Garden Tools and Supplies: If you have new or gently used garden tools & supplies (rakes, hoes, spades, trowels, etc.) we can put them to good use! Always accepting them!

Gardens Supported by: Lynn’s Greenhouse, Anthony Simkowski, Chet Biadasz, Jungs Garden Center

Garden Locations: 

Food Donations can be taken to: You may make donations of food and produce at one of the following food distribution centers in Portage County:

The cold and dry growing season reduced or delayed the harvest of many crops this growing season.  A few of the gardens did not produce much at all this year.  Gardens which focused on crops that thrive in colder weather had excellent harvests.

A new program for collecting produce donations at the Saturday Stevens Point Farmers Market went very well.  The farmers were very generous and the food distribution sites were thankful for the produce donations from this new source.  This program is a joint effort with Central Rivers Farmshed, a network of people, businesses, organizations, and productive lands that create a local food economy.

Future efforts should better document the total need for produce, by variety, from each of the different food distribution sites in the county and match produce production to this need from all the different sources available.

Garden stewards have been identified for all gardens.  The new steward for the Rockman’s Catering garden was identified during a planting event at the Plover Boys and Girls Club garden with some volunteers from the Frame Memorial Church.

The Giving Gardens is requesting those who want to help to just give us a call or send an email with their availability and we will give them a project

Planning for the gardens should be made with information about the total need for produce, by variety, from each of the different food distribution sites in the county and information about other sources of other produce donations.

After final harvests the gardens should be prepped for the next growing season.  This will include collection and storage of tools and compost bins, take down of temporary fences, removal of plant materials, addition of compost/soil amendments and fall tilling.