Low-income families are being especially hard-hit during the coronavirus pandemic. Grand Valley State University is donating all produce grown from its educational farm to those who need it most.
The spring growing season is underway at Grand Valley State University’s educational farm. When students and farm volunteers were sent home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the administration suggested donating the crops.
“We got the financial support to keep going and keep growing...given recent events this could be a really important asset for the food system of West Michigan.”
Youssef Darwich, farm manager and educator.
“So, we’re going to shift our focus a little bit toward really hardy stuff…throughout the summer and into the fall we’ll have tons of veggies. Here, we’re going to plant some tomatoes pretty soon and those will start coming ripe in the end of June or so. A lot of lunchbox peppers. Those are a lot of people’s new favorites. A lot of cucumbers we’ll have and outside we’ll plant stuff that’s really vigorous that’s easy to grow like squash and stuff that’s really popular that a lot of people will use and that we can grow with a little less effort than growing carrots or baby salad greens since we’ll be a little short-handed throughout the summer.”
Darwich recommends eating as much healthy food as possible quoting an old phrase, “Let food be thy medicine.”