When local farmer and landowner Val Authenac had to find a home for 800 pounds of potatoes, she looked to the community which has helped her and her family for so many years.
Authenac, who in the last year dedicated half-acre of land to grow a charity garden, used the help of the Third Grande Prairie A Troop to pull the potatoes out of the ground, and to help distribute the items to non-profits across Grande Prairie.
“We’ve been very fortunate in our lives, and it was a way for us to help those who needed help in the community,” she says.
“As well as a way for the organizations to get involved and help out and be part of the solution,” she adds.
Authenac says going forward they will be pushing for a full five acres of charity garden to help continue on the tradition with a variety of crops. She adds if it weren’t for the volunteers offering a hand this year, it would have been an impossible task, and she looks forward to continuing the project next year.
“Since it was so successful and the groups we did donate to are willing to provide volunteers, we feel we can plant a full five acres with the help of the people who helped this year and just make it better and bigger.”
The potatoes were handed out to Rotary House, The Salvation Army, The Grande Prairie Friendship Center, The Elder Shelter, Northreach Society, the Parkside Complex, and GPRC student housing.