STAR JOURNAL REPORT

The Rhinelander Area Food Pantry Community Garden is turning to social media to grow its fundraising efforts.

Seedmoney, a Maine-based nonprofit that helps public food gardens thrive by offering them grants, access to crowdfunding and technical assistance with garden planning is challenging the RAFP community garden. If RAFP can raise $600 by Dec. 15, Seedmoney will contribute an additional $400.

The garden has grown 3,000-5,000 pounds of fresh produce for each of the past 10 years. The produce is distributed through the food pantry to Rhinelander area families in need. in 2015 the garden added a greenhouse to the operation.

“Now, we not only grow vegetables for the community garden but we also grow vegetable starts for our clients at the pantry in an effort to encourage them to grow their own food,” said Tom Jerow, Community Garden co-chair. “In each of the past two summers, we distributed over 1,500 plants to families growing their own gardens.”

The following is a link to the Seedmoney website’s page where donations can be made:

https://www.seedmoney.org/campaign/447/rhinelander-food-pantry-garden-revitalization-project