JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — They hope to feed the community with food grown by the community. Earlier this week volunteers and veterans at the Clara White Mission began planting 200 fruit trees that will help fight food insecurity in Northwest Jacksonville.
“All my family is farmers, so I kind of grew up farming, so this is basically something natural for me,” said U.S. Navy veteran Solia Chende, who is a resident of Clara White Mission.
The first 50 trees were planted in the gardens at Clara White Mission in downtown Jacksonville. More volunteers are needed in order to plant the remaining 150 trees at White Harvest Farms on Moncrief Road.
“Everything that we sell at the farm we personally grow or sell it from someone who grows it locally,” said White Harvest Farms manager Mallory Schott, “so the infusion of fresh fruits will have a huge impact on the Moncrief community because they’ll have direct access to that.”
The next tree planting events are the first 2 Saturdays in February at White Harvest Farms on Moncrief road and the community is welcome to attend and help.