Community Cooperative battles hunger and pollution one plant at a time

By Jaylynn West

African American and other communities of color have been the ideal homes for fast and fatty food restaurants because of their cheap prices and accessibility. African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to be obese than white Americans, according to the Center for Disease Control. Communities of color across the country, like Fort Myers, began to implement urban gardening in order to combat health risk, as well as help fight pollution.

Community Cooperative served 27, 627 “unique humans” last year, according to Stefanie Edwards. This was done through its soup kitchen, Meals on Wheels, social services and other programs. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

Stefanie Edwards – the director of development & community outreach at Community Cooperative – speaks to visitors about the garden and the organization. Edwards is responsible for the garden and takes care of it with the help of volunteers. She is also responsible for the organization’s programs out in the community. Community Cooperative has programs at several K-12 schools in Lee County. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

“Not all growing is positive for the environment with waste water issues and soil depletions,” said Stefanie Ink-Edwards, Community Cooperative’s director of development and community outreach. “But, it is important to make sure that we take part in informing ourselves and others about ways to eat better so that we can live longer.”

Community Cooperative is a soup kitchen in Lee County geared toward eliminating hunger and homelessness in the area while promoting a sustainable lifestyle through food and education. About three years ago, Community Cooperative turned the building’s empty backyard areaintowhat they call their Able Garden. The Able Garden started as a small donation-based project by the organization’s board of executives.

Community Cooperative refers to the garden as the “Able Garden”. The garden is used by volunteers and clients to learn about plants and everything they need to know to care for a garden in Florida. The Able Garden is home to many types of plants, such as tomatoes, okra, jalapeno peppers, corn, cabbage and more. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

The Able Garden is home to many greens. At full capacity, Edwards says that the garden can produce up to 50 pounds of harvest a week. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

“I have gotten most of my 80 hours of service learning through Community Cooperative,” Brown said. “During my freshman and sophomore years, I helped out in the soup kitchen, but then learned about their garden and education programs, so I started volunteering in the garden.”

Although Community Cooperative is known for its food pantry and soup kitchen, the garden is a community staple for healthy eating education in urban areas like Lee County. What Community Cooperative did not think about was how they are also providing the area with a solution to the air pollution problem.

A tomato is almost ready to be harvested. Tomatoes are one of the many types of plants and vegetables grown in the garden at Community Cooperative. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

Sweet potatoes are a favorite in the garden at Community Cooperative because they grow quickly and are a great plant to teach people about growing, especially in an urban environment, according to Edwards. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

In inner and urban cities, industrialization and high levels of traffic take place, and the amount of green space, used to revitalize and filtrate the air is stripped away. Plants and trees are the lungs of our ecosystem, taking in all of the toxins in the air, filtering them and putting oxygen back in to the atmosphere, creating sustainable living conditions for the area’s residents.

“It’s not just about feeding people that are hungry or sleeping on the streets, but figuring out what is the why,” Edwards said.

A broccoli is ready to be harvested. The garden doesn’t use any pesticides. Gardeners use organic compost and take advantage of rain water. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

The area Edwards jokingly refers to as her “greenhouse.” (Photo: Mark Pierre)

The initiative to educate adults on sustainable living inspired Community Cooperative to branch out and also educate elementary, middle and high school children on planting, growing and harvesting their own foods. Four schools in Lee County have adopted the program and have their own green spaces and urban gardens.

Since 2017, Community Cooperative has provided over one million pounds of food, and fed nearly 26,000 Lee County residents with the help of their Able Garden and food assistance and education programs.

The mobile pantry trucks used by Community Cooperative. Community Cooperative operates eight mobile pantries a month. Last year, they distributed 650,000 pounds of food, according to Edwards. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

The garden is meant to not only serve as a place to volunteer and work, but also a place to relax and recharge. (Photo: Mark Pierre)

“To know that you can have a five gallon bucket of dirt and you can grow tomato plants and have fresh produce right in your own home and help the community in more ways than one, is pretty awesome,” Edwards said.

Community Cooperative has taken the first leap to implement urban gardening as a way to preserve and rejuvenate the agriculture, the atmosphere and the people who call inner cities home.