DC Greens' first summer harvest at The Well at Oxon Run - think okra, tomatoes, eggplants - will soon feed Southeast D.C. families.
The nonprofit’s urban farm and the Capital Area Food Bank are teaming up to host monthly fresh-food giveaways on Valley Avenue SE. The first food distribution will be on Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. About 200 boxes of fresh produce will be available on a first come first serve basis.
“This food is going to end up in the hands or in the bellies of someone who really needs it,” Kenneth Bridgers, a farm manager at The Well said.
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The farm has been growing a wide variety of produce for months. Now, they are excited to share the fruits of their labor with the community.
“I’m truly thankful to be from this community and to be able to share produce and food, relationships, smiles, love. It’s been a joy,” Bridgers said.
Both The Well at Oxon Run and the partnership with the Capital Area Food Bank are new. But DC Greens has supplied healthy options for low-income residents for years.
About half of the food pantry's clients often don’t have access to fresh produce, according to program organizers.
“To be able to give people things that I’ve worked on with my own hands, it really feels special and fulfilling and different,” Wesley Mahmud, a farm manager at The Well said.
DC Greens also works with other nonprofits and the District to offer produce prescriptions, a citywide program offering money for fresh produce to people with diet-related illnesses like diabetes or hypertension.
“So, the idea is that this is preventative health. People want to eat fresh food [but] it’s not accessible, it’s too expensive.” Louisa Furstenberg-Beckman, DC Greens produce prescription program manager said.
DC Greens knows it can’t feed everyone, Bridgers said, but he believes the partnership will allow them to expand their reach in the community and draw people into the urban agriculture space.
“We have produce here that’s grown here for you, right now,” Mahmud said.
