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The Schuyler County Food Room sits on North Park Street in Lancaster, Missouri, just south of the Iowa border. It’s one of The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri’s 145 partner agencies. Each month, the Schuyler County Food Room opens its doors to share food with its community.
In recent years, the pantry has been able to offer even more fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to the support of longtime volunteer Susan and her husband Bert. Susan and Bert regularly bring home-grown produce to the pantry, using seeds Schuyler County Food Room received from The Food Bank.
About two years ago, Bert noticed that the seed packets were often overlooked. He decided to take them home and see if he could grow food for his neighbors.
Today, Bert has three plots on his farm that grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. He’s grown produce like broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, okra and watermelon. He estimated that as of June, he had around 37 tomato plants and 60 or more broccoli and cauliflower plants.
“I understand that people are having some hard times, and it's just about giving it back to them right now. We do use some of the produce out there for sandwiches and stuff like that, but, otherwise, we're going to return almost every bit of this back into the community this year,” Bert said.
Bert has been gardening for a long time and encourages others to try it. His father showed him the ropes, and Bert has taught his children how to garden, as well.
“You have to like to do it,” Bert said. “Try to get your kids in on it, so it can be passed down,” Bert said.
The Schuyler County Food Room also offers a sense of community on distribution days.
“I usually cook dinner. We get a dinner together, and I'll get my meat smoker, and I'll usually cook up the meat and have dinner here for them,” Bert said.
He said that no one should feel nervous about coming to the pantry for the first time.
“It's nothing to be ashamed of, because you're coming here to get the food out of the food room. It's all donated, and it's for that purpose. There is absolutely no need to be ashamed or embarrassed about any of it,” Bert said. “There is even a clothing room on the backside, and they have name-brand clothing in back there, and the ladies are awesome back there that run it."
If you are interested in donating your extra produce to The Food Bank or one of its 145 partner agencies, the Fresh Food Connect app makes it simple. If you download the app, you can find the partner agency closest to you and schedule a drop-off time for your donation.