By Stacey Gillespie

MegaFood is happy to have donated 1% of sales from the recent Natural Products Expo in Anaheim to The NH Common Ground Garden Project. MegaFood is extremely grateful for the successful sales at the show that enabled us to contribute funds which will have a positive impact towards this community out-reach program.

Carl Jackson and the executive management team decided to support this local non-profit organization because of its commitment to mentoring and educating inner city children on the long term benefits of healthy eating through teaching core principles of sustainable gardening. In addition the garden nourishes families in the community by donating a significant portion of their harvest to the New Hampshire Food Bank, serving food pantries statewide. Common Ground also assists with “Elders on the Grow” at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home, where a master gardener works with the elders, and families are invited to join in.

The NH Common Ground Garden Project is a program of the  UNH Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development program and the Massabesic Audubon Center. The Project supports between 150 and 300 inner city children who visit the 4-H Children’s Teaching Garden at Massabesic weekly in the spring and summer.

The project includes afterschool / summer programs, in which children come from the Manchester Housing Authority, Salvation Army in Nashua, the Merrimack and Nashua Boys & Girls Clubs, Girls, Inc., in Manchester, Families In Transition and Massabesic’s Camp WildSide. The children learn how to garden sustainably and produce food which they take home to feed their family.  In addition they donate to the New Hampshire Food Bank – by participating in this type of service the children can enjoy seeing their peers in the community benefit from the seeds of their efforts. Last year the garden sent over 1,800 pounds of produce to the Food Bank.

As the frost thaws and green begins to appear here in New Hampshire, staff from the MegaFood offices will volunteer their time to help prepare the gardens for planting as well as participate in horticultural projects through out the season. We will keep you posted with pictures!