Growing Vegetables for the Poor

The church that I belong to, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Pompano Beach, has a wonderful youth group leader, Wendy Bourgault, who has come up with an innovative idea.  She is starting small garden plots on church property to grow vegetables which will be given, along with dry and canned goods, to recipients of food aid through the St. Vincent de Paul program.

She is starting small, with one plot growing broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans.  She is hoping that each ministry in the church will start its own plot.

For a long time, it has troubled me that truly healthy food--vegetables, whole grains, and fruits--are too expensive for the poor, who must subsist on white flour, corn syrup, and trans fats because those are the cheapest foods in America and the only foods they can afford.  The people who need healthy food the most to face the challenges ahead of them are exactly the people who can't afford it.  This project aims to fill that critical need.

As Father Paul Kane, the church's administrator pointed out to me, the lack of heathy foods increases the risk of Type II Diabetes and its complications: blindness, heart disease, and many more. He further pointed out the sad irony of the fact that the farm workers who grow the food are paid so little that they couldn't afford to buy the food they grow in the supermarkets.

I am often ambivalent about being a Catholic.  Sometimes, the politics of the church as an institution is simply awful and I often disagree  with and, I am ashamed to admit, dislike the leadership. However, programs like this make me proud to be a Catholic.

If you would like to contribute to this work, please start  gardens for the poor in your own church or house of worship. If you would like to send a donation to St. Elizabeth for the work, please send it to St. Elizabeth of Hungary,

3331 N.E. 10th Terrace


Pompano Beach, FL 33064

Phone: 954-941-8117

Fax: 954-941-0999

School Office: 954-942-2161

Religious Education Office: 954-943-6801

St. Vincent De Paul: 954-942-1850