Salvation Army to host Community Garden Day
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on June 9, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sam Jones searches for ripe squash in the Goldsboro Community Garden Wednesday. The garden, located on Holly Street behind the Salvation Army, is providing fresh produce to the community for a second year.
Growing a garden and waiting for vegetables to pop out of the ground can be exhausting.
But the benefits of gardening and eating natural food outweigh all of the pain from waiting on home-grown squash, cucumbers, rutabagas, tomatoes and collards.
The Goldsboro Salvation Army will celebrate the art of gardening as well as highlighting its importance by hosting its second annual Community Garden Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 25.
"We're developing people in efficiency, giving back to nature and eating more healthy," Salvation Army Missions Specialist Dennis Sims said. "We educate everyone on how to plant, the benefits of eating out of the garden and the health benefits behind it.
"Get them (families) away from all this processed stuff ... and get back to natural food."
Families will also be able to enjoy water slides, music and grilled food while admiring the nine plant beds in the middle of the lawn.
Sims says the idea for the community garden developed two years ago and has grown from three original beds to nine.
He says the property across from the Salvation Army will be an entire garden in the future if families help grow their own plant beds with assistance from Sims and Sam Jones, head of the community garden.
Jones says the main purpose of the community garden is to provide low-income families in Wayne County with food from the plant beds.
"We want to try to feed everybody, win a lot of souls because there's a lot of hungry people around here," Jones said. "A lot of people need help so the Lord blessed us to do this."
And Jones, Sims and volunteers provide the education each week.
Every Thursday at 5 p.m. parents and children are welcome to water the beds and take care of the garden. They can choose a spot to build a bed and grow their vegetables. To avoid a dead plant bed, children and parents are encouraged to maintain their bed each week -- with assistance from Jones and Sims.
The two walk through the garden each day to peek at premature squash, okra, beans and watermelons. They wait patiently for ripe vegetables to appear in order for Wayne County to reap the benefits.
But the Community Garden Day will be fun while families also learn the importance of growing vegetables and eating healthy food from Salvation Army's garden and their own one day.
"These gardens are going to come back in style after a while," Jones said. "Then the more young people that get more interested in it, they can also teach their grandkids. It's a great deal going on."