Organic farm donates to meet community needs

Every Tuesday during the growing season, students from the Community Service Learning Center come to the WSU Organic Farm at the Tukey Horticulture Orchard to load boxes of fresh produce that they then haul to Pullman’s Community Action Center. At the center, the food is distributed to needy Whitman County families.

The Community Action Center is just one of the three community groups to receive the produce, said farm manager Brad Jaeckel. The other agencies are Pullman’s Harvest House and the Pullman Child Welfare Food Bank.

Each of the agencies receives between 20 and 50 pounds of fresh organic produce every week from the farm, Jaeckel said. Some of the produce has been purchased by donors in the community for distribution to the food banks and some is extra or leftover harvested vegetables.

Up to 50 households every week benefit from the produce provided by the farm to the Community Action Center, according to Jeff Tietjen, assistant manager for family development at the center.

“This fresh produce is truly a blessing,” Tietjen said. “This is so generous of WSU. Our families are thrilled to death when they get this fresh food. It goes real quick.”