Share garden produce with pantries

To the editor:

At about this time each summer, area gardeners reach a pivotal point in the gardening season. The joy of discovering new buds on zucchini plants and that incredible taste of a tomato picked fresh off the vine is quickly being replaced by the challenge of finding someone who can use the produce that is ripening almost more rapidly than it can be picked. Friends and neighbors quickly reach their produce saturation point, yet the vegetables continue to mature. What's a good gardener to do with all that extra produce?

Love In the Name of Christ is encouraging our area gardeners to donate their excess produce to local food ministries. Alongside the canned vegetables and prepackaged dinners, our food pantries will also be able to distribute the fresh, nutritious produce while our areas only housing ministry can use the donations to feed their residents. Local gardeners can drop off their harvest at the following locations during normal operating hours: Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope St., Cape Girardeau; Revival Center, 914 Old Cape Road, Jackson; and New McKendree United Methodist Church, 225 S. High St., Jackson.

This will provide an excellent opportunity for area gardeners to become God's gardeners, using their excess to provide healthy food for others. What a great way to take Jesus' command to "feed my sheep" literally. And who knows. Maybe next year some will even consider cultivating additional plants so that they'll have even more to share.

EVA HILLIS, Executive Director, Love INC of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau