Stories of Salem: Planting Seeds with Marion Polk Food Share
Produced by Meghan Jonas and Ashley Jackson Lawrence. Story by Meghan Jonas.
Most of us know what it’s like to be hungry.
I certainly do. When I was a broke college student, living far below the poverty line and working two to three jobs to make ends meet, I was often stuck with the impossible decision of paying rent or buying groceries. The fear of not having enough was crushing and riddled my brain with the thought of how I would possibly be able to feed myself.
Like many food-insecure people, I wondered if I deserved to go to the food bank. It seems like a ridiculous question now, as I think about the months I spent eating lentils and dried beans, splurging on stew meat if I could afford it.
The food pantries in my college town, one conveniently located on my university campus, saved my life. Whenever I walked through the doors of a community food bank, I was greeted with open arms and left with food I could only dream of affording myself, like a whole turkey for Thanksgiving or farm-fresh produce, donated by local farmers.
More than 53 million people visited food banks in 2021, according to Feeding America. And with a recent USDA report finding that in 2023, the average cost of groceries is estimated to increase by 6.5%, more people may be facing hunger than expected.
Thankfully, the Marion Polk Food Share is here to help.
The mission of the Marion Polk Food Share is, “To bring people together to end hunger and its root causes.” With a network of community gardens across both counties, volunteers are able to grow nutritious fresh food for themselves and their neighbors.
The Marion Polk Food Share was founded in 1987 as a regional food bank and expanded its programming to include community gardens in the mid-2000s, working to build a healthy community where everyone has access to the food they need to thrive, says Courtney Collins.
Courtney Collins is the Farm and Garden Education Coordinator with Marion Polk Food Share. Collins first started gardening when she was very young, spending time on her grandparent’s hobby farm outside Salem. “There were always farm and garden projects happening,” she says with a smile.
Now, Collins happily connects people with farm and garden opportunities, working with over 50 garden coordinators across Marion and Polk counties, including Diane Burnap, to get community members’ hands in the dirt.
Burnap is the garden coordinator at Sunnyslope Community Garden, along with her furry companion, a dog named Peanut, affectionately called Bubbalicious. Burnap is passionate about volunteering and service work, saying, “I think that we could solve all of our problems if we just brought it down to a local level.”
Burnap first got involved with community gardening when she moved to Salem with her daughter in 2008. She was living in an apartment with no outside space, but “needed it for her soul.” She got connected with Marion-Polk Food Share and has been gardening through the program since. “If you have a desire to get out and grow your own food, you can do that very easily,” Burnap says.
Access to food is a basic need for every person. If someone is food insecure, it may make it harder for them to engage with their community in larger ways, Collins says. Marion Polk Food Share provides low- and no-cost plots for low-income, disabled, or senior residents.
People garden for a variety of reasons. One of Sunnyslope’s community gardeners has Parkinson’s disease and his garden bed is located near the center of the space. When Burnap asked if he’d like to have his space moved closer to the parking lot, he said, “No, the joy is me working to get to my bed. And it's making me stronger.”
Gardners are able to grow their own food independently, including culturally-relevant food that may not be found in local grocery stores. Families that bring their children to the community gardens are able to show them the life cycle of food. “Guess what? French fries, well, they actually started out as a potato. And let’s show you how to grow that,” Burnap says.
Collins says the benefits of community gardening are abundant. “They provide a community space where people can engage together, and bringing people together is a huge part of our vision as well,” Collins says. Folks are able to come together as they maintain common areas and learn from each other.
Community gardens are not only a place to grow food, but a place to decompress, hold community events and get to know people across various backgrounds through a common activity.
“Everybody is doing this out of just a really genuine place of wanting to build the community and do something for other people,” Collins says.
Collins has high hopes for the future of Marion Polk Food Share and its community gardens, including dreams of a network of gardens in public schools. The Food Share’s six-acre Youth Farm, which provides farming opportunities to youth 13-18, is a huge success.
Burnap agrees that gardening has a great effect on youth, telling a story of a couple of teenagers that were hanging out around the Sunnyslope Community Garden, bored without anything to do during the summer. Burnap gave them a garden bed and seeds and soon saw the teens proudly growing flowers and beans.
Nearly everyone within Marion and Polk counties has access to the food share and community gardens, which supplies food to over 100 food pantries. Community members don’t need to provide ID or proof of income, address or citizenship to receive food, ensuring that pantries are accessible to everyone.
Gardeners at Marion Polk community gardens all donate to the food share. When asked why she gardens, Burnap says, “Oh, because I love getting dirty in the soil. And I love plants and I love feeding people.”
Burnap says, “No one should go without food. Come on. We're not a food-poor country. [Food] is a right, not a privilege. Everyone should be able to have food, and good food as well.”
Community gardens are abundantly welcoming, Collins says. “If people feel like they don't have the know-how or the resources to be successful within the community gardens, there are so many folks that are involved in the community gardens that want to help people feel comfortable here.”
“We see it all the time,” Burnap adds. “We see people helping others in this garden, one person has something that the other one needs.” There are even master gardeners around, willing and excited to help.
At a plant distribution at the Youth Farm, two women reconnected over the tiny pots filled with soil. One had worked at a local homeless shelter. The other had been a young mother experiencing homelessness with her child.
They hugged each other as the mother, now grandmother, introduced the former advocate to her granddaughter. Decades later, they connect over what they’re planting in their gardens.
Collins says, “All these community garden plots have neighbors that love sharing information and a wonderful group of garden coordinators that want to help people be successful. So if anybody's ever hesitant about joining a community garden, I would just highly encourage them to reach out and you know, take that step. They won't be disappointed.”
To find a food pantry near you, visit
To find a community garden, visit
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