The Community Garden at OSF HealthCare St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg is a blossoming collaboration between their staff, Future Farmers of America members from Galesburg High School, and River Bend Food Bank. The garden fosters community connection and holistic wellness, reflecting a shared mission to care for the whole person.
Dr. Nathaniel Baker, managing medical director for Emergency Medicine, got the idea for the garden in Galesburg after hearing about one at an OSF Medical Center in Peoria. He wanted to give back to the community he works in, and the garden sounded like a great place to start. “The reason I thought that this was such a great idea and opportunity is you can put in a fairly small investment and make it grow literally multiple times,” he says.
Planted in May, the garden had already produced more than 4,500 pounds of produce by mid-August. Half of the harvest is set aside for neighbors to pick up behind the medical center, and the other half is given to River Bend Food Bank for distribution.
“They do a lot of work in our community,” says major gifts officer Tyler Sheridan. “It made a lot of sense for us to consider a partnership with River Bend simply because of their reach in our community and their experience getting the community members the food that they need on the sites that are most convenient to them.”
Dr. Baker thinks they’ve started the garden at a critical time. “The way things have been going … the need is going to be, I think, so much bigger in the next year,” he says. “We’re going to be able to expand on it next year and then hopefully even more beyond that.”
The key to expansion and growth is people like you! Those who donate or volunteer their time are critical to initiatives like this. “I think getting the word out to people, trying to find more partnerships, and then finding more potential volunteers would be the biggest need right now,” Dr. Baker says.
“This is a great opportunity to provide [nutrition] to our community and ensure they have an opportunity to make an impact,” Tyler says. “We really want to pour into our community at a big level.”
Your support helps community gardens like this one thrive! Thank you.