ECI on track to exceed last year's food harvest to give away

Posted 6/13/22

WESTOVER — Food pantries, health agencies, churches and various charities in Somerset and Wicomico counties are again starting to receive boxes of produce from the vegetable gardens at Eastern …

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ECI on track to exceed last year's food harvest to give away

Posted

WESTOVER — Food pantries, health agencies, churches and various charities in Somerset and Wicomico counties are again starting to receive boxes of produce from the vegetable gardens at Eastern Correctional Institution.

The first harvest which included Chinese cabbage, kale, spinach, turnips and radishes was boxed up and delivered to the Princess Anne area on June 1. The total weight of 782 pounds packed inside 51 boxes was the largest since the program started in 2014 and puts the prison on track for reaching if not exceeding last year’s total of nearly 13 tons.

Over all years combined ECI has produced and sent out approximately 45½ tons of food. The produce this first week represented what came out of the gardens in the East and West compounds, with the Annex garden not quite ready.

Warden Debora Darden said none is held back by the facility so it all can benefit area residents in need. She said the smaller garden in the West Compound is being enlarged to match the one in the East Compound and it’s creating a friendly competition to see which location can get the biggest harvest. This keeps the inmates engaged and provides them an outlet go give back to the community.

“They work really hard to keep it growing,” she said.

ECI partners with the Somerset County Health Department which takes it away to its facility on Sign Post Road, St. James United Methodist Church and Recreation & Parks in Westover plus to locations in Princess Anne to include the Seton Center, the library, Healthy Families, the Lower Shore Shelter and the Judy Center.

The public library and Emmanuel Crisfield are two of the drop-off points in Crisfield.

“All of it goes to the Health Department,” Warden Darden said, adding that while if some of it was held back and might lower food costs at the prison, working to meet the needs of the public “is really important.” She said this harvest “is our beginning and it will go all the way through October.”

Kalia Wight, health educator who was distributing the boxes of food, said last year in particular there was an abundance of squash and that is expected again. With the increasing price of food it’s one thing many families won’t have to budget as they can enjoy fresh vegetables through the growing season. She added that there are recipes available, and some partner locations hold cooking demonstrations.

“The community loves it,” she said, “especially the squash.”

Delivery is on Wednesdays, and a few years ago Wicomico County locations were added. Ms. Wight is always on the lookout for more partners, especially in the Crisfield area. She can be contacted at kalia.wight@maryland.gov for details.

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