Contact: Pam Heaton, NorthRidge Church, 734-414-7777
PLYMOUTH, June 7, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- NorthRidge Church recently planted its Community Garden with hopes of providing more than 15,000 pounds of fresh vegetables to area food pantries and soup kitchens this summer and fall.
The church expects more than 300 volunteers to work in the 21,000 square foot garden with the project being overseen by a pair of master gardeners and engineers. According to NorthRidge Senior Pastor Brad Powell, the Community Garden is a part of the church's overall effort to help people at their point of need and touch their lives in a tangible way.
"Jesus had compassion for the poor and the hungry and he wants His church to do the same. Our response to His generosity is to reach out to help those that are disadvantaged and unable to help themselves." Brad Powell
The Community Garden is in its fourth year. The garden's yield has grown steadily from more than 3,000 pounds of produce in its first year to just under 12,000 pounds in 2010.
"It's a high a bar, but we think we can beat last year's yield," Powell said. "One of the strengths of the Community Garden is the participation of entire families. It's a project that everyone can help with."
Volunteers began prepping the garden in early May with planting dates on May 31, June 2 and June 7. Maintenance will follow every Tuesday and Thursday evening with harvesting beginning in mid-July and continuing through mid October. Detroit-based Gleaner's Food Bank visits NorthRidge twice a week for pickups after harvesting begins.
The Community Garden is only one of the church's efforts to help give back and minister to the community and those in need.
Over the weekends of May 14th and 21st, NorthRidge held its annual Food Drive and collected 28,000 pounds canned and other goods. NorthRidge members brought the food and left it bagged adjacent to their vehicles over the two weekends.
Approximately 200 volunteers helped collect the food and pack it into 711 boxes. The food was donated to five locations; Salvation Army of Plymouth, Lighthouse Home Mission in Westland, the Detroit City Mission, Love Inc. of Brighton and the Hope Clinic of Ann Arbor.
In February, NorthRidge Church worked with Feed My Starving Children to pack more than one million meals to benefit kids in Haiti, Guatemala and Somalia. About 5,000 volunteers helped pack the meals and people gave more than was needed to cover the cost of the million meals. The extra from the event was used to help a small church in Laredo, Texas pack over 200,000 meals that will be used to serve the poor in Mexico. All of this is evidence of the growing generosity of NorthRidge's attenders, Powell said.
"We are a church that cares," the senior pastor added. "While I am proud of our NorthRidge family, our mission isn't to glorify ourselves, it's to glorify Christ; we most visibly evidence that love by showing compassion and care for those in need."
NorthRidge Church is a non-denominational ministry that serves approximately 20,000 southeastern Michigan residents. Senior Pastor Brad Powell has led the congregation for the past 21 years. NorthRidge offers six services each weekend; four at the Plymouth location and one at each of their satellite locations in Brighton-Howell and Ann Arbor-Saline.
