Kiwanis Club's garden a boon for hungry

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The Olympian • Published August 23, 2008

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Thumbs up: Kiwanis Club

Imagine 10 tons of vegetables. Now imagine how appreciative Thurston County Food Bank patrons will be to add those vegetables to their dinner menu. It's possible because of the incredible work of the Kiwanis Club of Olympia. Club volunteers are harvesting the first of 20,000 pounds of fresh vegetables to be transported to the food bank and distributed right away to needy families. About 70 percent of the vegetables handed out by Food Bank volunteers comes from the Kiwanis Club's garden project. Among recent donations were 322 pounds of cabbage and 202 pounds of beets. The garden is on five acres in west Olympia. Cold-weather crops are started in the greenhouse, and in the spring the growing season begins in earnest. Estimated costs of vegetables grown and delivered to the food bank is between 30 and 40 cents per pound. Money to operate the garden comes from Kiwanis fundraising events, grants and donations. Excess vegetables are distributed to the Rochester Organization of Families and Mason County food banks. Over the years, Kiwanis also has given vegetables to The Salvation Army, Union Gospel Mission, Bread & Roses and other community-based organizations that serve meals. What a terrific project with an incredible effect for needy families.

Thumbs down: Seattle toilets

Seattle taxpayers took a real bath on the city's failed attempt to install high-tech, self-cleaning toilets downtown. Seattle spent $5 million for the toilets and when they were a terrible flop, the city sold them online for just $12,549. Taxpayers have a right to be upset. City officials should have made certain the toilets worked as intended before making the multimillion dollar investment. The city installed the modernistic stand-alone toilets four years ago, hoping they would provide tourists and the homeless a place to do their business while downtown. But the automated loos became better known for drug use and prostitution than for relief. Neighbors and analysts said they were less cost-effective than regular public restrooms, and in May the City Council voted to sell them on eBay. After a failed first attempt, when a $89,000 minimum did not attract a single bid, the city revised its strategy in hopes of sparking a bidding free-for-all. But the average sale price was about $2,510 per toilet. Butch Behn, owner of Racecar Supply based in Rochester, won all five auctions and plans to use two of the units at South Sound Speedway near Tenino. What a costly fiasco for Seattle residents.

Thumbs up: Girls Without Limits

Summer camp can be a favorite time of the year for young people. The Olympia YWCA's Girls Without Limits summer camp has teamed with Wolf Haven International to offer young women a unique camping experience. Campers learned about prairie restoration and wolf populations at a field trip to Wolf Haven. Camper Sophia Hess-Morgan, 11, saw first hand the native species spread across 35 acres and learned about the threats the land faces. "We all like trees, because they're shady, but they're not good for the prairie," Hess-Morgan said. Colleen O'Shea, a prairie restoration specialist, said invasive species have taken over the area. The Nature Conservancy's Olympia office is working to remove them and restore native plants, which are habitat to birds and butterflies. The great thing about the YWCA camp is the low cost and the fact that scholarships make it accessible for girls who might not otherwise be able to afford camp. "Camp this summer has really been about learning how to take care of ourselves, learning how to take care of our environment and take care of our community," said Tracy McFarland, who leads the camp and the YWCA's Girls Without Limits free after-school program. "New experiences -- that's what I want to give them."