LEON COUNTY, Fla. — With a shovel in hand, Adrien Dejacque is planting seeds in the garden behind The Plant.
The Plant is an all-inclusive creative space, where everyone is welcomed and empowered to organize, research, and encourage the free expression of others.
The garden is feeding food insecure families in Leon County.
”In a lot of neighborhoods, the only place where they can get food for miles is a gas station or a dollar store," Dejacque said.
For two years, Dejacque and other volunteers have been planting produce.
”(Families) They’re not getting nutritious food and that’s keeping them in a place of poverty," Dejacque said. "This is keeping them in a place of poverty because they’re not able to be healthy and that leads to other health problems, which cost more money and it’s just a vicious cycle.”
According to the second harvest of the big bend, 150,000 people are struggling with food insecurity in our communities because of the coronavirus pandemic.
<When you have food that is out priced to the point where people can’t afford it. When grocery stores are placed in places where people can’t reach, it’s up to us to stand up and help out," Volunteer Jon Foltz said.
Produce they grow gets put into The Plant’s food share and distributed all throughout Leon County.
Dejacque said the plants in the garden now are only the beginning.
They plan to expand the garden to the empty lot at Gaines and Macomb.
