SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 1999

Catherine Edman is not your normal newspaper reporter on the municipal beat. Taking her reportorial skills and
combining them with her love of gardening, Edman convinced her bosses at the Daily Herald to let her work on a Plant-A-Row for the Hungry campaign. Her efforts are flowering and I’d like to ask you to help her.

“We thought about a goal of 50,000 pounds but finally settled on 10,000,” Edman said. “If I have to go door-to-door to get it, I’ll do it.”

What Edman accomplished this spring and summer is nothing short of a miracle—and it was done on her own time. She had to sell her bosses on the concept, sell the Home & Garden section on devoting space for it, and then she set up the entire network of 43 sites over the five counties the newspaper covers. “I’ve still got some gaps that I’m trying to fill,” she says.

Those food banks and pantries have agreed to keep track of the fruit and vegetables that are brought in by charitable gardeners and provide Edman with a running total of pounds of food. These agencies typically receive non-perishable donations so they can even out their deliveries to the needy. Handling home garden produce puts added pressure on them to get the perishable, often fragile, crops to people who would not ordinarily receive this nutritious part of a daily diet.
Edman convinced each pantry to allow all of us to help. She worked with the major food distribution agencies in Chicagoland and found many local pantries through databases at the newspaper. She takes home the map that has a push-pin stuck in each location where food can be dropped off. She has worked through the national office of Plant-A-Row to receive row markers and promotional materials to broaden the impact of the newspaper’s stories.

“I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months,” she says. “I wake up in the middle of the night and think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to send this to that agency’.”

Edman’s list of pantries is on page 20 of this issue. Check with the one closest to you to determine how to deliver your extra produce. A map of the sites appears each Sunday through September in the Daily Herald if you want more information.

Plant-A-Row is not an exclusive for the Daily Herald. Shirley Remes, a contributor to this magazine and garden columnist for the Kane County Chronicle, has a similar program through that paper. The coverage there prompted a call from my cousin in Geneva who said her daughter thought this would be an interesting summer activity. Bravo. And our Associate Editor Cathy Maloney took the concept to the Brookfield Zoo where a Plant-A-Row garden has been planted near the south entrance. A recent visit indicated that some four-legged friends may have sampled some of the crops, but the plot was fenced and beginning to fill in. Sondra Katzen of the zoo says there are plans to continue the garden in a new location next year.

Plant-A-Row is a program of the Garden Writers Association of America that has relied on its members to spread the word voluntarily. This year, with help from the Scotts Company and Home & Garden Television, the program has been able to hire an administrator and receive some of the promotional opportunities that will provide the backup and help that enthusiastic people like Cathi Edman need to bring in her 10,000 pounds of food. If Cathi knocks on my door, I hope my less-than-well-cared-for vegetable plot has something to give back to those who need it. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to make Plant-A-Row a reality in Chicagoland.