Crofton Family Gives Away Homegrown Produce To Support Nonprofit

CROFTON, MD — When the coronavirus invaded the country, people found themselves quarantined in their homes with time on their hands. Some tackled long overdue home projects, while others brought home chickens to raise. Cindi Ertwine, a teacher in Anne Arundel County, began guiding her children's e-learning, but realized they needed more.

"We needed a project to get us out of the house but in a safe place. So we decided to create a home backyard garden as a small 'quarantine project' in March when schools and businesses closed/ shut down. What started out as a 'small' garden morphed into something a tad bit more," Ertwine told Patch. "Our house is in Crofton, where lot sizes are not that big. Our backyard is probably no bigger than the size of two living rooms. We ended up digging up half the sod we planted last year. We made multiple raised beds out of extra wood we had laying around the garage. The only thing we spent money on was dirt and organic plants."

Ertwine, her husband and the kids — Kaylynn, 11, Luke, 3, Elliana, 1 — planted six cherry tomato plants, three regular tomato plants, two heirloom tomato plants, 13 raspberry plants, two blackberry plants, four strawberry plants, three jalapeno plants, three butternut squash plants, three cucumber bushes, one sweet pepper plant, one eggplant starter, two thyme plants, three rosemary plants, four basil plants, two mint plants and two cilantro plants.

Thanks to a favorable growing season, the family quickly realized their garden had produced far more than they needed and could eat. So they decided to give the surplus away.

"Our intention is to help give back to the community as much as possible. We know that times are tough for many and we just want to share. With all the craziness going on, our hope is to spread some joy. Many families are unemployed and struggling for money. Maybe we could help a few families out? If even with just a little bit of free fresh food," Ertwine said.

The family decided to allow Kaylynn set up a mini farm stand, similar to a lemonade stand. She kept busy creating posters and other material to help advertise the project.

"Her excitement was through the roof. She did not stop talking about it until the day we started, last Thursday. The caveat to all this is that we were not going to ask for money, just donations if people had the means and were willing. We figured maybe Kaylynn could get enough money to buy a new bike in the fall, something she desperately needs," Ertwine said.

But then kindhearted Kaylynn had a brilliant idea. Instead of using any goodwill donations for herself, she decided the family should donate all proceeds to a charity and chose Alex's Lemonade Stand as the recipient. This is a nonprofit that supports the fight against childhood cancer.

"We emailed Alex’s charity this weekend asking if it was OK that we use their name on our homemade posters and advertisements and they graciously accepted. Once we wrap up in the fall, we will send Alex's a check and will also include a donation from our family," Etwine said.

The family created a Facebook group promoting their free organic produce. The result was overwhelming.

"Over the span of 24 hours, we had more than 150 likes for our advertisements. Not to mention a dozen shares and dozens of comments. I woke up Sunday morning to 36 messages, some of them offering to donate to a charity of our choice. All of this feedback was on two posts we shared to the Anne Arundel County online yard sale page and the Pasadena, Maryland, yard sale page," she said. "Unfortunately, our small garden is not equipped to handle the amount of interest we have had in the last 48 hours. We have had people requesting orders, as well as people telling us they are traveling from up to an hour away to visit."

The family is concerned they will not be able to provide enough produce from their own garden to the people who truly need it. They've reached out to local nurseries, gardeners and produce stand owners to see if anyone could help them boost their supply in order to help those in need.

"Kaylynn is literally losing sleep worrying we will not have enough produce for our visitors resulting in very little to no donations for Alex's. She is so concerned that we will upset people when we run out, resulting in people not returning or giving negative feedback. She is an extremely conscientious young lady," Ertwine said. "The popularity and support came as a bit of a shock. Our intention was really to just spread some goodwill and bring joy back into the world. We were not expecting the outpouring of interest, love and support. We have no clue what this will bring, so we appreciate support."

If Patch readers have extra produce and wish to help those in need through the Ertwine's free produce stand, connect with them through their Facebook page.