February 22, 2016 - Texas A&M Agrilife Extension hosted a groundbreaking for the Shelby County Community Garden on February 17, 2016 at the Shelby County Sheriff's Posse Rodeo Arena on State Highway 7 East in Center.
Shelby County Extension Agents Jheri-Lynn McSwain and Lane Dunn led the ceremony which had a large attendance from community leaders, civic organizations, business owners and local citizens. Dunn extended appreciation to all those attending the event and said it demonstrated the great community support they have received.
McSwain shared some of the history of plans for the garden leading up to the groundbreaking, "This was a dream and it really started with Pam White, and I know y'all remember Pam, she was a real blessing to our community. She just really had it upon her heart to help feed the hungry in Shelby County."
Pam White was Shelby County Outreach Ministries Executive Director until she passed away April 29, 2014. McSwain shared how Pam Phelps, Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director; and David Chadwick, City of Center Mayor; have shared in that dream with White of establishing the garden.
"It's not so much a dream as meeting a need," said McSwain. "We're real excited to be able to come together as a community, as a county, as a city and put this garden together with all y'all's support and help feed our hungry individuals, our senior citizens in our county and that is our goal. AgriLife with our background and our educational experience can help lead that trail and make that happen, so we're thrilled about that."
Dunn said one thing for which the garden will be utilized is demonstration and will assist AgriLife in growing different varieties of plants to see how they fare in the Shelby County area, " We're very excited about that, so we can say, 'Hey, this tomato grew best right here in Shelby County,' or 'this plant grew best right here in Shelby County,' so it's going to be a dual purpose garden."
Allison Harbison, Shelby County Judge, described how McSwain and Phelps began discussions with her in March 2015. A piece of property, which carries liability insurance was an important part of the operation and although operations were considered, the time to plant had passed.
"Last November we started looking and this was just the most obvious place, because the county owns this property, we already pay liability insurance on this property so it truly is not going to cost us one cent. All it's going to take is some love and some work and some cooperativeness," said Judge Harbison.
Originally it was planned to install the garden at the front of the Shelby County Sheriff's Posse Rodeo Arena property; however, plans now are to locate the project at the back of the property.
"We are very blessed to have this and coming together and then the county being the leader, the headquarters for this project, it did all work out," said Pam Phelps, "Lane I'd like to thank you, and we are so blessed to have Jheri-Lynn who has the experience, here in the county today that's done this before, so with her leadership will be a great success."
Sherry Harding, Shelby County Outreach Ministries Executive Director, said she is very excited about the community coming together on this project, and taking care of the people in need.
"God has called us to be his hands and feet, and it takes us filling in the gap for people who cannot and our seniors who've worked hard all their lives and they have big whether to buy food or medicine, pay their bills," said Harding. "So, last year we served over 20,000 meals to our senior citizens through our nutrition program, and we provided over 4,000 people food through emergency food boxes."
Harding is enthusiastic about the options which will be made available to people Outreach Ministries helps by way of the garden.
"We're very excited to have this fresh fruit and vegetables come in, because a lot of times they can't buy those items and we didn't have them before to give, so we're very excited about the nutritional value and what it's going to mean to our seniors and I really appreciate everyone that's taken part," said Harding.
Sponsors who were thanked and listed during the event included Woodmen of the World, Center Rotary Club, Center Noon Lions Club, Shelby County Farm Bureau, Center Garden Club, Shelby County Sheriff's Posse, General Shelters, Shelby County Judge and Commissioners, Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, Donald Monroe.
