On Monday afternoons in early August, residents of Woodside Park and surrounding neighborhoods began dropping off fresh produce outside a home on Silver Spring’s Highland Drive. This HarvestShare collection site was arranged through KindWorks, a Potomac-based non-profit, in order to collect food to share with the many Montgomery County residents facing food insecurity, a number that unfortunately continues to rise. The program (HarvestShareMD.org) has 20 sites throughout the county and, from July through October, gathers surplus fruits and vegetables from home, community and victory gardens. Fresh store-bought produce is also accepted. HarvestShare delivers the food to food assistance providers throughout the county. Although the official summer produce collection ended October 31, residents of this community continue to fill their bins with unusual garden greens, squash, tomatoes, apples, spinach, bananas, peppers and watermelons, delivering the food to Rainbow Community Development Center each week. Over the last four months, these neighbors have collected and donated over 1200 pounds of fresh produce. Thank you, Cheryl Silver and your generous neighbors, for helping those in need.
