The buckets with vegetables and fruit starter plants planted in them to be delivered to senior citizens around Lewis County.
Seeds and starter plants that were donated to Twin City Rotary by the Chehalis Walmart.
Seeds, soil, fertilizer, and starter plants that were donated to Twin City Rotary by the Chehalis Walmart.
Seeds, soil, fertilizer, and starter plants that were donated to Twin City Rotary by the Chehalis Walmart.
Volunteers, from right to left, Jakob McGhie, Larry McGee and Michael Evinger filling the buckets with soil.
Many senior citizens in Lewis County can look forward to having a source of fresh produce right in their homes as the Twin Cities Rotary has teamed up with Twin Transit and numerous other generous community members for a “Vegetables in a Bucket” program, which delivers vegetables and fruits planted in buckets to local seniors.
“Several people got together and they got tomato starts, strawberry starts and several other plants that they have put into about 100 donated buckets to deliver to those who are struggling during COVID-19,” said Catherine Cleveland, head of the public image committee at Twin Cities Rotary. “The idea is that these seniors can have fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the summer.”
Many community members pitched in with the project, which is aimed at fighting food insecurity, including Lewis County Director of Public Health J.P. Anderson, who donated the dirt and buckets, Arnold Haberstroh, who donated mulch and pea gravel, Helga Broderson, who donated tomato cages, Mark Bolender, who provided stakes, and Julie Powe and Jennifer Penfold, who helped take care of some of the starter plants before they were planted in the buckets.
Walmart in Chehalis donated many supplies to support the “Vegetables in a Bucket” project, including bags of soil and fertilizer, numerous seed packets and plant starts of zucchini, squash, cherry tomatoes, oregano, lettuce, cucumbers and more.
“It’s a really fun, cool project. It’s a lot like the victory gardens from back during World War II, except now it’s in a bucket,” said Andrea Culletto, community relations director for Twin Transit. “I think our community really rallies behind a cause, and this is just another example of our community doing that well.”
On Saturday, May 23, a group of volunteers planted the starts in nearly 100 buckets. Twin Cities Rotary is looking for more donations of starter plants through Monday, June 8. The vegetables in the buckets will go out for delivery via Twin Transit transportation on the week of June 14 through June 20.
Twin Transit has been working with Lewis County Seniors since the beginning of the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order in March, delivering meals to seniors at home since they are not able to visit the senior centers during the COVID-19 outbreak, so they will be able to easily deliver the buckets on their preexisting routes.
The idea of vegetables in a bucket is accredited to Dave Campbell, a member of Twin Cities Rotary.
Many community members helped out with the planting, including Larry McGee, Jakob McGhie, and his wife Nicole Loffelmacher, Mike Crouse, and his grandson Tyler Torres, Dave Rubert, Michael Evinger, Jenni Swenson and Dave Campbell.
