At Thursday night’s Leitchfield Utilities Commission meeting, Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center CEO Wayne Meriwether told commissioners that a community garden plot is being constructed on Wallace Avenue, adjacent to the back parking lot of the hospital.
The community garden is intended for people who don’t have the space on their property or apartments to grow a garden.
Meriwether cited several ways a community garden could benefit any community, but particularly a county that has a high level of health issues, some of which are caused by a poor diet.
“In the most recent Community Health Needs Assessment our hospital performed, ‘Nutrition and Obesity’ were two of the top health challenges facing people living here,” Meriwether said.
He went on to say that “when compared nationally and statewide, Grayson County ranks low in several key areas: Cancer deaths, adult diabetes and diabetes deaths, (and) adult obesity, (as well as) limited access to healthy food and the percent of low income residents that do not live close to a grocery store.”
The benefits of a community garden touted by Meriwether (and the Centers for Disease Control) were that more healthy fruits and vegetables will be consumed, and more people will engage in physical activity and skill building.
The community garden will offer people either 48 or 60 square feet of area to grow a garden. The smaller spaces may be rented for $15 with the larger sections renting for $25.
Meriwether requested commissioners to allow Leitchfield Water to install a water line, and an above ground faucet with a lock.
Commissioners agreed to that request. Meriwether, though, asked that the cost of the water used at the garden, and the installation fee of $525, be waived by the commission.
Utilities Chairman Bob Crawford said the commission cannot legally waive the cost of the water, and Commissioner Dorothy McCall said that if the commission waives the installation fee for the community garden, how many other organizations will make the same request.
In the midst of a discussion on the matter, Mayor William Thomason, who sits on the commission, said he and Commission Attorney David Vickery, along with other officials, will pay the $525 installation fee for the project, putting to rest the discussion.
There will be a public informational meeting on the community garden on Wednesday from Noon until 1 at the Extension Office at 123 Commerce Drive. For more information on the community garden, contact the Grayson County Extension Office at 270-259-3492.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
