What’s growing in the garden? Corn, potatoes, tomatoes?
Yes, all of the above, and more. Today we’ll meet a long-time volunteer who supports her local community garden plus other projects that benefit her community.
Melvina Jones is a volunteer with the Potwin PRIDE program (now known as Kansas Community Empowerment at the state level), including the community garden in Potwin. She grew up on a farm near the Anderson County town of Welda and earned a teaching degree at Emporia State. She retired after a career of teaching.
Her family always had a garden. “I grew up in 4-H. Gardening was one of my projects,” she said. After moving to Potwin, she and her family had a garden of their own.
In 1984, the Potwin mayor invited community organizations to have a representative on a newly forming local PRIDE group. Jones joined PRIDE as a representative of the Parent Teacher Organization and has been active ever since.
“I’ve seen lots of changes in the program through the years,” Jones said. According to the Potwin group, she has been instrumental in the success of the organization. She applied for and received grants for ballfield improvements, community education and more.
“The Kansas Community Empowerment program helps us set our own goals for the community,” Jones said. “The state office helps with surveys and with projects.”
Projects have included lights and fences for the ballpark, National Night Out, city-wide garage sales and cleanups, downtown beautification and the Potwin newsletter.
Such volunteer projects are vital in rural communities such as Potwin, population 421 people. Now, that’s rural.
National Night Out is like a nationally promoted community block party. It is held in the fall in Potwin. Wheat State Technologies (the local telecom company) donates drinks. One Potwin resident, the local sheriff, donated hot dogs for the event. His term as sheriff has ended, but he’s still donating hot dogs.
The beautification project involved barrel planters downtown. Fourth graders planted flowers in several of the barrels. Another volunteer planted the rest, and he waters all of them all summer long.
In 2000, local gardener Ken Whittington contacted the city, Potwin PRIDE and other organizations because he wanted to involve adults and kids in gardening. An empty lot was identified near the water tower as a location for the community garden.
Jones was one of the original community garden volunteers. “It was originally called Plant a Row for the Hungry,” Jones said.
In 2003, Whittington passed away. The garden is now named the Ken Whittington Memorial Community Garden and Jones is the project coordinator. Among other things, she led an effort to get a grant to replace the garden’s irrigation system.
“We’ve had as many as 50 volunteers help with the garden,” Jones said. It is intergenerational. Currently she is working with 15 adults and 11 youth. “Kids get a big kick out of it,” she said.
The community garden is growing tomatoes, sweet corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, turnips and okra. Families have added peppers, eggplant, watermelon and sunflowers.
The produce is donated to the Potwin Community Food Pantry. Community members can also get vegetables for a free will donation one day a week at the Methodist Church garage. Additional produce is donated to Salvation Army locations in El Dorado and Wichita.
This all-volunteer community garden is small but mighty. Since its beginning, the garden has produced 106,057 pounds of produce.
Tonya Taber is the chairperson of Potwin PRIDE/KCE. “Throughout all these years, (Jones) has been the person who set the foundations of our success,” she wrote. “She isn’t one to call attention to her service or be seeking recognition for what she has done. She is much more comfortable lifting others up. However, we feel she should be recognized for her years of service. She has been a beacon of light and hope for our community.”
What’s growing in the garden? Thanks to Melvina Jones and many volunteers who are making a difference, the garden in Potwin is growing lots of vegetables and lots of community spirit.
