This month we’d like to spotlight the super grower team of Anita Gilbert and Anthony Vondroska of Spencerville, a gardening couple who has supported HarvestShare since its inception in April of 2020. Anthony and Anita had both just completed their MoCo Master Gardener (MCMG) training only weeks before Covid-19 shut everything down and were looking for a way to both utilize their newly acquired knowledge and give back to the community. They started planting in their daughter’s unused garden space with some of the plants distributed though HarvestShare with the intent to donate everything they grew. By the end of the summer season last year, these Master Gardener interns had grown and donated over 300 pounds of fresh vegetables to Rainbow Community Development Center in Silver Spring.
This year Anthony and Anita are utilizing their own backyard to grow while their daughter is back in her gardening space, also donating a portion of her harvest. Anthony, affectionately known as Mr. Kale, enjoys photographing caterpillars and butterflies in the garden and Anita continues to work with the MCMG youth gardening program at White Oak which has been also growing to donate since the pandemic began. Thank you both for being Super Donors and supporting our neighbors in need.