Grown Here at Home: Our Lady of Nazareth Giving Garden - a community food source supporting local organizations

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - A garden at Our Lady of Nazareth Roman Catholic Church has grown from a small volunteer effort into a significant food donation operation over the past decade.

The Giving Garden launched in 2014 with three gardeners and produced about 350 pounds of food that year. Since then, it has expanded to a 1,000-square-foot space with 34 raised beds — a project made possible through parish gifts, parishioner donations, and the work of Eagle Scouts.

This year, the garden will have harvested more than 24,000 pounds of food since it began. The produce has supported organizations including the Ram House, Saint Francis House, and the Salem Roanoke County Food Pantry, among others.

Charles Brown, who leads the volunteer team, said the weekly totals can be surprising.

“We’ll go through the week and you see 30 pounds here, 30 pounds here, 30 pounds here,” Brown said. “At the end of the week, sometimes I have to count twice. I’m like, did we really pull out 170 pounds out of our garden this week? And it’s just such an incredible feeling.”

The garden currently has close to 100 volunteers. Brown said his team includes a number of children.

“My team particularly has a bunch of children on it, which is just really, really neat when they come out and are just really passionate about being able to get into the dirt, into these fruits of the labor, and really being able to see that go to the farmer’s markets or the donations,” Brown said. “It’s just a very amazing ministry that we’ve got here.”

Brown said he does not have an extensive gardening background, but that skilled volunteers on the team have provided guidance. He said the most important quality for participants is a commitment to serving others.

“Being able to be involved in your worship community and being able to get involved in the community as a whole, I think, is what we are all called to do, just to serve each other and love each other,” Brown said.

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