AmeriCorps members clear the way for sunlight and safety at Linden garden

The Horn of Africa Community Garden in Columbus’s Linden neighborhood hums with activity during the day. Women, most of whom are refugees from Somalia, are watering, weeding, planting and talking, while small children are playing close by. But at night, the garden’s out-of-the-way location has attracted crime and vandalism.

SHARECorps VISTA member Sarah Lenkay learned about the problem when she visited the garden as part of her work at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. Sarah mobilized about 20 volunteers who spent Saturday morning making a huge dent (literally!) in the problem. According to Sarah:

The garden sits on the property of the Rhema Christian Center and abuts Capital Park Apartments; this low-income housing is home to around 200 Somali refugee families. The community garden is a resource for the families and is maintained primarily by the women, who grow food for themselves and use it as a community gathering space where the women can come together and socialize.

While the garden is a wonderful space for the Somali women, it is also grounds for vandalism and other destructive activities. This is because the garden isn’t visible to the neighboring apartments and residents cannot see into the garden since the honeysuckle brush is severely overgrown.

AmeriCorps members and other community residents came Saturday morning to cut back the brush and clear the line of visibility between the apartments and the garden. Within a few hours, we were able to cut brush, bundle it, and haul it out of the area so the women vigilantes in the apartments could keep an eye on the garden. 

Beth, a social worker from Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, a local non-profit refugee resettlement agency, told us the brush clean-up was vital to restoring safety and community integrity to the garden. Residents now feel safer entering the garden because they can see into it prior to going in. Also, women who watch the garden from their apartments are able to monitor activities and help reduce the occurrence of inappropriate, destructive activities taking place there.

All in all, the morning was beneficial for everyone. AmeriCorps members were able to directly impact a local community garden that serves a great community need, and the Somali women were able to ensure that their garden space would be safe and undamaged. In addition, many of the one-time volunteers are now interested in regularly volunteering at the garden, and are more aware of the challenges and successes that surround the large Somali refugee population in Columbus.

(Sarah Lenkay serves as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, where she is working to organize produce distributions at food pantries and building capacity for community gardens in Franklin County.)

Ohio Pork Farmers Donate to Those in Need

"We are so thankful for our state's selfless network of pork farmers and their want to donate pork to those in need. Their desire to be part of the solution to Ohio's growing hunger epidemic could not come at a better time," said OASHF Executive Director Lisa Hamler-Fugitt.

During the 2011 Easter season, the Ohio Pork Producers Council (OPPC) is excited to donate more than 12,000 pounds of highly nutritious, protein-packed pork products to Ohio's emergency food assistance network.

"Ohio's pork farmers hope to provide 500,000 meals to Ohioans in need through the Pork Power program," said Dick Isler, Executive Vice President of OPPC. "This compassion is rooted in the direct connection and relationships pork farmers have with their communities."

OASHF and its 12 regional Feeding America foodbanks are thankful for the generosity of Ohio's network of pork farmers! Read the full press release here:

ServeOhio Award recognizes National Service members

Congratulations to our SHARECorps and HarvestCorps members! Our National Service programs were honored on Thursday with the 2011 ServeOhio Award for "Outstanding National Service Program" from the Ohio Community Service Council. Hear about why our program was selected here:

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Free Tax Assistance through The Ohio Benefit Bank

No Food to Spare: Foodbanks Featured in Columbus Dispatch

"With the economy still struggling, many Ohio families find themselves in a similar position while trying to put together holiday meals.

The Mid-Ohio Foodbank plans to help about 15,000 of them.

By Friday, the food bank is to have shipped 2 million pounds of food to about 500 pantries and other distributors across its 20-county service area. The holiday program produces boxes that each hold enough food to feed a four-person family for three or four days, said spokesman Colin Baumgartner. "It obviously keeps our trucks very busy."

The program is in its second year and accounts for a lot of the bank's annual distribution, which should reach 40 million pounds this year, Baumgartner said.

That's a 4 million-pound jump over last year and a sign of the rising demand that food banks throughout the state are working to manage, he said, adding that distribution by Mid-Ohio is up 44 percent over four years ago. The Cleveland Foodbank has provided 50percent more food during the past two years. As of Nov.30, Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank had distributed 38 percent more food than in the first 11 months of last year."

Read the full article from The Columbus Dispatch.