Veggie outreach helps fuel free cafés in Fort Mill, Lake Wylie

Local residents and church members are helping their neighbors – one vegetable at a time.

On Saturday, volunteers from Elevation Church in Charlotte and Tega Cay Baptist in Fort Mill worked together to harvest cucumbers, tomatoes and corn to help make meals for those in need.

The Tega Cay Baptist Community Garden, next to Lake Wylie Lutheran Church off Gold Hill Road, partners with the three local Community Cafés to turn fresh produce into soups, salads and hot meals for those in need, said Mark Daubenspeck, a deacon at Tega Cay Baptist and one of the garden’s founders last year.

“It’s a chance to do something for the community,” Daubenspeck said. “It’s cool to go from seed, plant, to vegetable, then to the Café, and they serve it locally.”

Produce from the garden also makes its way to the Fort Mill Care Center, Daubenspeck said.

Tega Cay Baptist started the community garden in 2014 on land it owns less than a mile away, across S.C. 160 West. Church members dug and built the raised garden beds and the shed that sits next to the plants. Daubenspeck said volunteers help pick at least 300 pounds a week of squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, corn, zucchini, sweet potatoes, green beans and more, most of which goes straight into meals at the three Community Cafés.

“They like the peppers; it gives flavors to their soups,” he said. “They turn (the produce) into everything.”

Don Murfin, who started the first local Community Café in Lake Wylie in 2010, said each Café delivers prepared lunch bags for shut-ins in the community, and also serves meals. Since the Community Garden opened, those meals have included more fresh ingredients.

“The Tega Cay Baptist Community Garden has been a Godsend for us,” Murfin said. Shut-ins “often don’t have access to any kind of fresh produce, so it’s nice to be able to do that for them.”

The Cafés offer free meals to anyone who walks in – donations are accepted from those with the ability to pay but are not required – and were created not only to feed residents in need but to encourage fellowship in general, Murfin said.

He said people come to the Café from all walks of life. “That’s what makes the Café special,” he said.

Being able to use fresh tomatoes, green beans and basil instead of canned goods has allowed the Café to save money and produce even more meals, Murfin said.

Murfin said tomatoes, green beans, sweet peppers and corn from the garden are used in the Café’s signature item: beef barley vegetable soup. While the cafés have been serving the soup since they opened, fresh produce makes a difference in the taste.

“It has become the signature soup of the Café,” Murfin said.

The Café also produces sub sandwiches using fresh tomatoes from the garden, which also end up in the corn-black bean orzo salad with Italian dressing.

“It’s a nice summer salad,” Murfin said. “People just absolutely love it.”

Daubenspeck said the garden’s organizers encourage volunteers to share what they pick with their neighbors.

“The whole point of this is to get out and help people who need help,” he said.

That was 6-year-old Elevation Church volunteer Forest Deming’s goal as he helped with the garden Saturday.

“There are a lot of homeless people that are really hungry and can’t get food, so I decided to work,” he said.

Elevation members have helped at the garden for the past two weeks as a celebration of the church’s Love Week, said member Wanda Giambelluca.

“It’s connecting the current of Jesus Christ to folks here in the community,” she said. “We are spreading the love. We like to do that.”

Elevation partners with Serving Our Neighbors Ministries, which also receives produce in the garden to help the homeless, Giambelluca said.

She said the garden is also a chance to involve the children of Elevation and make a difference in the community.

“The work we do here today is going to have a lasting effect,” she said.

Elevation member Varnes Brady, 9, spent the morning handing out water and tending to the garden.

“It helps everybody, especially in the way of the Lord,” he said.

Daubenspeck said the garden also helps to teach children about where food comes from. “A lot of these kids have never seen an ear of corn,” he said.

The community garden is also a place for residents to grow their own flowers and produce in individual plots, Daubenspeck said. He said nearly half the garden is dedicated to individual gardens and the other half is open to volunteers.

“Having access to fresh produce is always wonderful,” Murfin said. “It really helps us out financially.”

For the week ending July 31, the cafés served 1,256 free meals, Murfin said: 353 at Lake Wylie Christian Assembly Church, 455 at Fort Mill Community Bible Church and 448 at Lake Wylie Lutheran Church.

Last year, the Community Cafés served 31,900 meals, Murfin said.

“It’s about getting to the right people that need help and giving them support,” he said. “We love on everybody that walks in and hope everyone feels better when they walk out.”

The community garden is one of many sponsors for the Café, Murfin said.

“Every year, we have more community involvement,” he said. “That’s what the Community Café is all about – neighbors helping neighbors.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Veggie outreach helps fuel free cafés in Fort Mill, Lake Wylie."