Somerset County 4-H Donates to Help Fight Food Insecurity

SOMERSET COUNTY 4-H donates to help fight food insecurity

April 2025

Somerset County 4-H, with great contributions from the Somerset County Rutgers Master Gardeners, Somerset County Agriculture & Natural Resources, the Neshanic Garden Club, and 4-H participation from Bergen, Salem, Monmouth, and Warren counties, donated vegetable and herb seeds to help fight food insecurity in Hindman, Kentucky, a vulnerable area recovering from flooding in 2022.

Grow Appalachia is a program established by Berea College aimed at addressing ongoing food insecurity by helping residents to grow food through organic methods. Through Somerset County 4-H’s seed drive for this program, a total of 1,814 seed packets valued at over $2,400 were collected.

The seeds have been shipped to Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky where area residents will be invited to come and choose seeds for their home gardens. Grow Appalachia will offer instruction in organic gardening and will then provide gardeners with access to canning and food processing facilities to preserve their harvests.

Food insecurity is a serious problem in the region and these donations will help hungry families to supplement their food supply, both now and for years to come.