Our Neighbors' Garden (ONG)

Mission: To provide fresh grown vegetables to Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan for distribution to local food banks.

For more than a decade, the one acre garden has been a healthy and nutritious regional food growing partnership between:

• Goodwill Food Rescue’s Northwest Michigan Food Coalition (serving more than 75+ pantries and community meal sites);
• Northwest Education Services Career-Tech Center‘s Agriscience & Natural Resources 11th & 12th grade student volunteers, and;
• ONG’s host Central United Methodist Church – Traverse City, Michigan, with volunteer coordination provided by Michigan State University’s Grand Traverse Area Spartans regional alumni club.

Our Neighbors’ Garden (ONG) team members help plant, tend to water and weed, and harvest a variety of fresh and healthy produce, delivered daily by Food Rescue, to more than 75 local food pantries and community meal sites that serve our many neighbors and families in need.

We invite you to join Our Neighbors’ Garden community volunteer team each summer. For just a day, or as often as you may wish, between 9:00 am and 12 noon throughout the growing season (May, June, July, August and September).

If you would like to learn more about becoming an ONG community volunteer, we invite you to please contact Tom Emling by email at emlingt@msu.edu.