Press Release
Filtrexx International, Church of the Open Door, and Cascade/Furnace Block Watch are building Gardens for families in Elyria
“Serve Elyria a Garden”
Elyria, Oh, May 9th, 2010: On May 15th, 2010, Filtrexx International, Church of the Open Door and Cascade/Furnace Block Watch will provide 300 gardens at the homes of low-income families in Elyria, Lorain, and Oberlin, Oh. These gardens are being built using Filtrexx’s unique GardenSoxx and will be planted with fruits and vegetable plants, providing fresh produce all season long (up to 100 lbs. of produce in the first year). Provided entirely by donations from Church of the Open Door, and installed with the help of Open Door Volunteers as part of Serve Elyria on Lorain County Pride Day, these gardens are provided at no charge to the recipient families. These gardens will not only include 16 square feet of GardenSoxx (www.gardensoxx.com), plants (including zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, and cilantro), and a watering can, but they will also include a recipe book customized to the garden and links to local resources to get the most out of the harvest. It is our hope that these gardens provide not only fresh and nutritious produce for kids and families who may otherwise not be able to afford it, but also to bring awareness to food accessibility (“Food Deserts”) and hunger issues in urban environments nationwide.
This project has brought together many other partners within the community including the Food Services Department at Lorain County Community College, the Child Care Resource Center, Pandy’s Garden Center, Boys and Girls Club of Elyria, Green Circle Growers, Dean’s Greenhouse, Zergott Landscape, the Salvation Army of Elyria, Lorain County Extension of The Ohio State University, and Save our Children.
