In the spirit of giving, members of Evangelical Lutheran Friedens Church in Bernville gave back in a big way this fall by taking part in “The Potato Project.”
“We donated all of the potatoes to the Bethel-Tulpehocken Food Pantry, housed in Salem Lutheran Church in Bethel. We delivered the potatoes on the day of the food pantry distribution. This pantry serves more than 100 families each month,” said Robert Argot, pastor of the church. “There had to be at least 500 pounds of potatoes, but could easily have been more. Thus, doing the math, each family had the opportunity to take at least five pounds of potatoes home with them.”
The idea to participate in the project came in part from church member Barbara Sands and from church members visiting the project started by Walt Zawaski in the Fleetwood and Kutztown area.
“Back in about 2010, I grabbed some church member and we traveled out to that area and helped harvest potatoes on a Sunday afternoon as part of ‘Volunteer Appreciation Sunday.’ We did that through 2013, going once a year. This year though, we focused on our own little plot of land,” said Argot. “We figured that we would be better stewards of that grassy plot by turning it into a garden, and as potatoes are a relatively simple crop to grow, that is what we did.”
The seeds were gifted to the church by Zawaski and “The Potato Project.”
Church members began the project in May once the final frost was done. They killed off the grass, tilled up the soil and planted the potato seeds. Planting took place on May 10 and then the members just let the plants grow, periodically checking up on them. Argot commented that they were lucky that the area had a decent amount of rain this summer. In September, it was time to harvest the potatoes.
Based on this year’s success, Argot sees the church members participating again and hopes for an even better turnout having learned quite a few things with the first time around.
“There was some skepticism at first, since we hadn’t done this before,” said Argot. “Some [church members] felt that we were ‘taking away’ the land which was used for the egg hunt and youth games. However, people seemed to warm to the idea as they saw the plants start to grow. The pride from the project outweighed the uncertainly that exists in the beginning.”
On harvest day, in September, church members were able to see all the work that took place in May result in hundreds of potatoes that were going right back to the same community that they were grown in. They were able to see their hard work pay off in a big way and show how the church can help the community.
“[I] enjoyed that church members, and community members as well, could see the growth happening,” said Sands. “Seeing something that is alive and growing, even if it was a bunch of potatoes, is an activity that gives hope.
“Honestly, even with the challenges we faced doing it for the first time, it turned out better than we expected,” said Argot. “Myself personally, as pastor, I enjoyed seeing my church members show how a church can serve its community in a way that happens beyond the walls of the building. God created humanity (in part) to take care of the earth and each other, and this was a new way in which we could do just that.”
For more on “The Potato Project,” visit https://sites.google.com/site/potatoproject2013/home/04-potato-project-story.
