CALDWELL — Over the summer a fruitful garden has been feeding not only a family year-round in Caldwell, but their neighborhood as well. The owners of the garden realized they had extra food and started putting free produce out on a table up for grabs.
"The garden is baring more than we can even handle," said Dawn Worley, owner of the shared stand.
But thanks to an extremely successful harvest this summer her family is fully covered and more. That's why she decided to give back to her neighbors by placing a table with free fruits and veggies for anyone in need.
"A lot of people are just very grateful that we are even doing this," said Worley.
Taking it a bit further Dawn decided to post on social media and allow her neighbors and all those in Caldwell to stop by and grab free produce. What she didn't expect is how her generosity would create a hub for the community to not only grab what they needed but also share what they had grown in their gardens as well.
"Probably once a week I get asked, can I bring something over and I'm like yes please do," said Worley.
She said she has lost count of how many people stop by and share their products and most of the time she has never met them in person.
"It's one of those ways for everybody to reach just beyond their families and help our community out," said Worley.
While she does take donations and says she will be using it for next year's seeds she doesn't want anything in exchange.
Dawn tells Idaho News 6 it's about making sure her community is cared for with something she can easily do from her garden.
According to Feeding America Canyon County reported 19,000 people being food insecure, that's more than 8.4% of the population.
"Some are embarrassed to go to the food banks, or ask people for help so this is a great way for them to come and get what they need," said Worley.
Her first post on social media about the free products got over 300 likes and comments, the community being fully supportive of her shared stand.
"That's really what it was about, no profit wanted it, the gratitude of them getting what they needed and us getting rid of something that we can use," said Worley.
Dawn says she will continue to place items on her stand as long as her garden allows her to and will allow anybody to drop off or take produce as needed.
You can visit The Shared Stand Facebook page where Dawn shared the days that the stand is full of produce.
