What started as a way to make apple cider for friends and family became something that affects the homeless here in Atlanta. Most of the food banks here but also all around the states, are filled with empty carbs and sugar. Cheap food is cheap food. When people donate food, it is usually the cheap stuff.
Concrete Jungle started with people going around town and collecting the fruit from the fruit trees that were on public property. They would make ciders and juice from the fruit, but they started getting more than they could drink. So, to the margins they went.
Since then, they not only continue to bring public fruit to the shelters and the food banks but they have also started up a garden where they can grow fresh produce to donate. Local business and farmers have donated seeds and the garden is run completely through volunteers within the community that plant, weed and harvest.
Weeding a garden is always tedious work, but someone has to do it. You see your progress, though which is a good motivator to keep going. We were in critter country, full of the creepy crawlees and mosquitos. It was hot and sweaty, but in the end it was good to see the progress and to see the fruit (vegetables).
