Share the Harvest Starts Saturday

Share the Harvest, a Philabundance program to help distribute fresh vegetables to those in need, starts this weekend. There are two local drop off sites.

Share the Harvest encourages home gardeners to grow fruits and vegetables or to collect any surplus produce from their harvest and donate to Philabundance to fight hunger in the Delaware Valley.

From this weekend through Sept. 23, Philabundance will accept produce donations Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 11 locations throughout the Delaware Valley.

In the Newtown area, produce will be collected at  on Durham Road in Wrightstown and Seasons Garden Center on River Road in Washington Crossing.

Each week volunteers will take the donated produce to area food pantries in their community that are Philabundance agencies.

“Philabundance believes everyone should have access to fresh healthy foods,” said a statement from the organization.  The hope is that Share the Harvest “will inspire gardeners to help fight hunger and increase the access for those in need of fresh produce, as it is the first thing cut from the grocery list when money is tight.”

Last year, gardeners donated more than 9,600 pounds of produce through the Share the Harvest program, according to Philabundance.

Share the Harvest, established in 1993, is based on the "victory gardens" concept, where residents planted home gardens in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom during World Wars I and II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort.

For more information, visit www.philabundance.org.