LAKE WALES, Fla. — A community garden is opening up in Lake Wales to help address food insecurity.
Dorothy Scott Wilson, a community activist in the Lake Wales area, said there are a lot of families struggling to put healthy food on the table.
"This food garden is one of the major ways we're saying, 'Hey let's cure this,'" she said.
The food garden will provide items that sometimes can price out people inside the grocery store, such as fruits and vegetables. It's located at 315 Dr. MLK Blvd., Lake Wales.
The Florida Department of Health in Polk County and the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency partnered up to help make this idea happen.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2021 report on food insecurity in the U.S., about 9.9 percent of households in Florida are considered to have low or very low food security.
“We found out that in the northwest community, there’s the highest number of residents located there that have no access to adequate transportation, or even knowledge of where to go for food distributions,” said Cheryl Baksh, the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency specialist.
Department of Health staff are planning to work with residents over the summer months to decide how the garden will look and function.
For more information on how to get involved in helping plan the garden, you can contact Jessica Napoleon at Jessica.Napoleon@flhealth.gov.