The Hays County Food Bank has partnered with Bobcat Blend to help grow its small garden this fall.
The food bank isn’t a stranger to fresh produce, receiving boxes of it daily from local grocery stores and partnerships with local gardeners and farmers. But in recent years, the food bank began its own on-site garden through donations from the community.
Bobcat Blend, which is a faculty managed, student-run and grant-supported research and teaching-oriented waste management campus composting program at Texas State University, is donating soil and compost for the food bank’s new planter box through the new partnership.
Bobcat Blend, however, was recently burglarized and an important piece of equipment was stolen. This stolen Bobcat was vital to its work, but the organization persevered. Sunbelt, a large equipment and tool rental facility, came to Bobcat Blend’s aid with a discounted Bobcat rental for them to use. With Bobcat Blend and Sunbelt’s help, the food bank will be loaded with nutrient rich compost that will be used to grow healthy and nutritious foods to be given to households in need at various public food distributions.
Bobcat Blend’s goals are to teach students, faculty and staff through daily operations and development of habits the environmental, economic, and intrinsic values of composting, in the cafeterias and in the classrooms, labs and landscapes on campus. If you would like to get involved with this organization, please contact Dr. Tina Cade at [email protected].
The food bank said it is grateful for new partnerships like these that can provide sustainable ways to continue to provide food assistance to those in need in this community. If you would like to donate seeds, plants, or equipment to the food bank garden, please contact Jessica Cruz at [email protected] or call 512-392-8300.
