Seniors and Teens Collaborate To Grow Vegetables for HopeLink

Inside a sweltering greenhouse in the sit rows upon rows of potted vegetables—carrots, spinach, onions, arugula, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower. They’re tended to not by green thumbs or gardening enthusiasts, but local teens who are relative beginners.

“The idea was to take people who had never gardened before and use a space that wasn’t getting a lot of use to grow food for the food bank,” said Samantha Smith, one of the originators of the project.

Smith is a recreation leader at the Old Fire House Teen Center, and she partnered with Carole Browning, a member of the senior center’s advisory committee, to get the ball rolling. In addition to getting gardening neophytes into the greenhouse, the program brings generations together.

“We can learn from the teens, and we can offer them some things,” Browning said. “This greenhouse has gone unused for so many years. Why not take advantage of it?”

All the vegetables grown will be donated to the food bank in Redmond. The project, which is still in test phase, began in late July. Harvest is projected for the last three weeks of November, with enough food gathered to feed 10 to 20 families once a week, Smith said.

Currently, about six teens and six seniors participate, and it doesn’t take a big commitment to make a difference, Smith said.

“It’s not hard for me to come (for) an hour out of my work shift,” she said. “If everyone can do that, we can change the concept of food.”

The initiative will bring much-needed vegetables to Hopelink's food bank and hopefully help people realize there’s more to food than just processed non-perishables, Smith said.

On a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon—hotter than normal outside and downright tropical inside the greenhouse—a group of four tended to the fledgling vegetables, watering and transplanting some to larger pots.

Recently-retired Asha Nelson saw the project as a way to give back to the community—and that’s hardly the only benefit, she said.

“There’s something grounding about working with soil,” she said.

Smith sees plenty of opportunities for the project to expand—growing larger quantities and finding crops that will thrive during winter—but for now, it’s a series of trial and error. It’s an initiative that combines the small town community helpfulness and vast resources of Redmond, while acknowledging the agricultural roots of the city, she said.

“Redmond’s been farming for a long time,” Smith said. “It’s not new, but it’s been lost.”