Bucket Brigade Growing Community Project Reflects World War Victory Garden Campaigns

The Bucket Brigade Growing Community Project, a collaborative humanitarian farming effort to help fight hunger across Santa Barbara County, held its groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 14 at Trinity Gardens in Santa Barbara.

Last year, one in four families countywide struggled to put food on the table. Today, as the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacts the economy, food insecurity has only gotten worse.

Building on the tradition of the victory garden campaigns of World War I and World War II, the Growing Community Project urges volunteers to grow and donate fresh produce to improve the health and nutrition of hungry residents in support of the Santa Barbara County Disaster Feeding Plan,

The Bucket Brigade’s crowdsourcing expertise makes it easy for anybody to get involved. Volunteers can grow food at home or community gardens. Freshly harvested produce will be picked up, sorted, weighed, and delivered to the local Foodbank and other humanitarian feeding partners.

This combined humanitarian farming project is only possible with the support of partner agencies and donors. The Growing Community Project provides an opportunity for everyone in the community to help its most vulnerable residents during this time of crisis.

“How can we succeed as a community when one out of every four of our neighbors doesn’t have enough to eat? It’s time to stop talking and to start growing,” said Abe Powell, co-founder/CEO Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade.

The Bucket Brigade thanks its Growing Community partners: Santa Barbara County Food Action Network, UC Master Gardeners of Santa Barbara County, Veggie Rescue, White Buffalo Land Trust, Elings Park Foundation, The Terrace Foundation, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, Catholic Charities of Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara County Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division, Community Environmental Council, Trinity Gardens, and the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.

For more information, contact the Keith Hamm at the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade: contactus@sbbucketbrigade.org, or 805-568-9700.