Alliance core staff met with Garden Manager, Nick Campbell and Director of Student Care & Advocacy Sandra Bullis, touring the campus garden and pantry.
The Hardin Valley Campus Garden is a supplier of fresh produce to the Pellissippi Pantry as well as a community service hub. The Hardin Valley Garden began in 2016 with 803 square feet and yielded approximately 1,190 lbs. of produce.
The Garden uses organic, permaculture-inspired gardening practices to produce food eleven months of the year. Most of this produce benefits the Pellissippi Pantry, which provides food support to members of the Pellissippi State family who may be experiencing food insecurity.
The garden emphasizes East Tennessee’s foodways — the crossroads of food in culture, traditions, and history, from seed saving to cultivation of heirloom crops, from preserving and canning to cooking with regional recipes and techniques.
Since opening in the Summer of 2016, the Pellissippi Pantry has provided a 3-5 day supply of emergency food, including fresh produce from our Hardin Valley Campus Garden, to participants and their household members on all four campuses.
This Fall, participants who choose to utilize the pantry on the Hardin Valley will have the opportunity to participate in our “Walk-In” pantry concept.
The “Walk-In” pantry concept will allow participants to shop for their items, rather than have their food pre-packed. Participants will be assigned points, based on their household size, and will utilize those points throughout the month. (Points will not accumulate or carry over and each item will have a set amount).
Participants on the Magnolia and Strawberry Plains campuses will be able to order their items by utilizing this new point system and their orders will be delivered to their chosen site campus every other week.
