HUACHUCA CITY, Ariz. (KGUN) — “There's no source of fresh food here, fresh meat or vegetables,” said Ann Aust, President of the Huachuca City Community Garden.
The garden provides fresh vegetables to an average of 300 people each month, at no cost. It was created in 2018 to fill the need of fresh produce in the community, and to feed and educate the people who live there.
Aust says the garden produces 5,000 pounds of fresh produce a year. They grow tomatoes, eggplants, okra, green beans, lettuce, spinach and more. Volunteers harvest vegetables, which are then given to community members in need.
"Some of them start crying (and then) I do, too," said distribution volunteer, Dory Lehman. "They need it that bad.”
Lehman has lived in Huachuca City for 50 years. She's been handing out food to her neighbors for the last nine years, after hearing some of their hardships.
"Nobody comes out and says, 'I need food,'" Lehman said. "But talking to them and reading between the lines, that's when I went out looking for stuff.”
Four years ago, she found the garden and started volunteering, handing out the fresh produce.
"(The people) I deliver to told me, if they get the vegetables from here, they can have money to pay their bills,” Lehman said.
She’s one of four volunteers that work in the garden and take the vegetables directly to their neighbors.
"It only takes one person...one hour... and things can change," said volunteer, Melanie Moyes.
Volunteers like Lehman and Moyes use their past as motivation to help others.
"As a kid I was hungry. We didn’t have a lot of money either," Lehman said. "If we close down there's no food for the people, and what are they going to do then?”
The garden feeds between 60 and 80 people a week. Aust says if they are able to increase the plant productivity they'd be able to serve even more people.
"I still think the way we distribute in our community is a good one, because these people know the individuals who are getting the food and I think that's very important,” she said.
The community garden is looking for more volunteers to help with their harvests, which happen every Wednesday and Saturday morning, starting at 7 a.m.
But the work isn't done with harvesting. Aust said what makes the Huachuca City Community Garden different from others is the education they provide.
They work with Huachuca City School's garden club, teaching the students how to grow their own food and turning the produce into meals. One part of the garden is dedicated to teaching and providing garden beds for the kids.
Aust says they use their social media and YouTube to post educational videos about gardening, healthy eating and other topics, so everyone can learn something.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
