Pay It Forward: Volunteer organization HarvestShare helps fight food insecurity across Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - An all-volunteer organization that's helping fight food insecurity in communities across Montgomery County through produce donations, food gardening education and community outreach.

HarvestShare encourages local gardeners to grow a little extra when they can, so it can be donated to local food pantries to help neighbors in need. They also offer online gardening talks, provide seedlings to gardeners at the beginning of the growing season and host the program Growing Healthy Futures, which helps vulnerable communities by providing gardening education and growing materials so they can produce their own nutritious foods.

FOX 5 spoke with the executive director of HarvestShare Cat Khan, who is a long-time resident of Montgomery County. 

"Every plant in here was donated by a Montgomery County resident. We have local high schools that have donated plants, master gardeners and all this bounty goes to food pantries in the area," Khan said. 

That’s why FOX 5 and Easterns Automotive wanted to pay it forward and help the organization by donating over $2,000 to go toward the community.

"We don't get much in the way of these kind of donations, so, thank you very, very much," Khan said. 

"This will be a huge help for moving forward with the garden. There are still a lot of things we can use that money for without a doubt and moving into the fall next year," fellow gardener Barbara told FOX 5. 

HarvestShare productive collections run from July to October. Gardeners with extra produce can drop food off at a number of sites. To get involved, click here