Our Mission:

The "Garden of Eaten" community garden at St. Maximilian Kolbe church is being created through a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to help provide food insecure households in Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, and Scarborough with fresh produce. Part of our mission as an extension of the Social Justice and Catholic Service committee for our parish cluster is to also educate others on how to grow fresh produce and prepare it for meals. In order to fulfill Christ's command to "love one another" and to act on the Corporal Work of Mercy to "Feed the Hungry," some of our produce will be going to the South Portland Food Cupboard and/or the Scarborough Food Pantry.

How It Works:

There are 8 large raised beds (10' X 12') and 50 kiddie plots (2' X 4') available for growing produce.  One of the large beds will be set aside for donating to the local food pantries.  Parishioners at St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John & Holy Cross, and St. Bartholomew parishes will be given the opportunity to apply for one of the other seven large plots and all of the kiddie plots.  Assignment of the plots are done on a "first come, first serve" basis.  Please see the applicationand the guidelines below.  Please get your application in to Nancy Chamberlain as soon as possible.  Once the plots are assigned, we hope to have an organizational meeting of all our gardeners to set out the guidelines and have a workday.  Working on the community plot will be the responsibility of all our gardeners who will be scheduled on a week by week basis.  Large plot gardeners will be expected to donate a portion of their produce to the local food pantry.  Please join this exciting ministry in our parishes!

How You Can Help:

There are many ways in which you can help with this project:

• Apply for a plot.
• Donate some garden tools - shovels, garden rakes, wheelbarrows, hoses, etc.
• Make a financial contribution.
• Signup to work on one of the work days.
• Be a member of the Garden of Eaten sub-committee.