Lyme-Old Lyme Food Share Garden Support Runs Deep with $10,000 Donation from United Way

OLD LYME — The Lyme-Old Lyme Food Share Garden is benefiting from a new stream of support now that the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut has donated $10,000 to help the group secure a dedicated water supply and continue feeding families in need. 

Food from the garden is delivered every Tuesday to the New London-based Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center, where it reaches residents across the county through food pantries and mobile food distributions. Annie Stockton, vice president of the food center, described the produce as a boon for the organization that often relies on food that supermarkets can’t sell. 

“We are so fortunate to have places like the Lyme-Old Lyme Food Share Garden where we’re getting the best of the best,” she said. 

Most of the produce is packed into mobile food pantries for distribution from Stonington to Griswold, with the remainder available to a network of 66 food pantries that obtain food through the center’s warehouse.

Stockton said the need for food assistance continues to rise.

“We are getting food out to around 32,000, almost 33,000 people every month,” she said. “We saw a 20% increase this year alone in people coming to food pantries and our mobile food pantries.”

She cited a recent survey conducted by the organization that showed 70% of people using mobile food pantries do not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. That means the United Way is filling a growing gap for working families whose incomes exceed federal eligibility thresholds but still struggle to make ends meet, according to Stockton.

About a dozen volunteers gathered at the garden at Town Woods Park on Tuesday morning for their regularly scheduled workday and to receive the big check from United Way of Southeastern Connecticut President and CEO Dina Sears-Graves. 

“We want to say thank you for all that you do and what you’re able to provide,” Sears-Graves said. “We’re here today to present you with a check for $10,000 to be used however you see fit.”

The donation comes as the garden advances plans for a new well, estimated at $20,000 to $25,000, that board member Peter Hunt said will give the organization greater control over both the timing and quality of its irrigation water. The garden currently shares a municipal water supply with nearby athletic fields, limiting when it can use it on crops.

“We want to have our own independent source of water so that we can turn it on and turn it off according to the growing season, not when the town turns it on for the playing fields,” Hunt said.

The garden has selected Sima Drilling of Cheshire for the project and expects the well to be installed near existing irrigation infrastructure within the garden.

Hunt said the organization currently has enough money for the well and is in the process of securing grants and donations for associated expenses like equipment and electricity to run the pump. 

Volunteer Bob Concascia said the garden’s biggest challenge is water quality due to the iron content. 

Concascia pointed to orange staining inside the garden’s hoop house and said excess iron has affected crops.

“We’ve had green peppers that are orange,” he said.

A new well would allow the garden to install filtration equipment if needed. 

“That’s the biggest problem that we’ve had here, honestly, is the water,” Concascia said.

Hunt said sustaining the garden long term will require continued community support.

“If you have the land, you have the people, you have the interest, you have the sunshine and the water, you’re still going to need the money,” he said.

The garden relies entirely on volunteers, with many devoting several days each week to planting, weeding, harvesting and maintenance. 

Food Share Garden board member Sheila McTigue-Ward, whose late husband, Jim Ward, founded the garden, said the group uses feedback from food pantry users to determine which crops to grow. 

“We’re asking volunteers to be out here investing a lot of sweat equity, and you really want to be putting things in the hands of people that they can use and will eat,” she said.

Among the garden’s most popular crops are potatoes, onions and “snackable” foods like cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, according to McTigue-Ward. She said volunteers planted strawberries for the first time this year and are experimenting with collard greens after dropping kale, which ranked low in survey responses.

In addition to Tuesday harvests directed to the United Way, smaller Thursday harvests are delivered to the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. She said the Essex-based Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries has access to produce from both harvest days.

McTigue-Ward said the garden is also looking to broaden its volunteer base, particularly by attracting more teenagers and young families. The garden keeps children’s tools on hand, and families sometimes combine volunteering with a visit to the nearby playground. 

Volunteers don’t have to commit to a regular schedule, she said: “Come when you can and leave when you must. Even if it’s once a summer or once a month for an hour, it all matters.”

Volunteer Margie Brown, who joined after moving to Connecticut during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the experience has been rewarding both as a gardener and as a way to connect with others.

“The people that volunteer here are amazing,” Brown said. “It’s such a wonderful experience.”

Concascia described the garden as both a service project and a community.

“It’s become a very social kind of thing too,” he said. “Everybody pitches in. Check your egos at the door.”

Stockton congratulated the volunteers for the critical role they play in improving the quality of food distributed to families in need.

“We are telling people, ‘you’re getting something better than you can get in a grocery store,’ and that makes all the difference,” Stockton said.

The sentiment got a nod from Hunt, who sees the garden as being about the food it produces and the people it serves.

“And it was grown just for them,” he said.