With a decrease in donations to The Storehouse, a group of community volunteers have joined forces to create a community garden for the food bank.

Covington Christian Fellowship, The Storehouse, Covington Rotary and Boy Scout Troop 416 are working on a community garden to grow fresh produce for local food banks.

The idea first originated from conversations Covington Rotary Community Chairwoman Marti Steindl had with Richard Nelson, a master gardener at Home Depot.

Due to the recession, The Storehouse, which provides food on a weekly basis to families in need in the community, had seen a decline in donations, particularly of fresh produce.

Covington Rotary also runs an event with The Storehouse that provides backpacks full of food for students at Covington schools who are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Steindl expressed the desire to see more nutritious food given out.

“It’s always on the forefront of our minds,” Steindl said.

After talking about it with Meg Holland, board president of The Storehouse, CCF staff agreed to let them use the land for the garden.

“We as a community, we’ve needed to think outside the box to preserve what’s not coming in,” Holland said. “A community garden is one of them.”

Because it was late in the year a limited amount of work could be done. In the spring, the idea came back up again.

Nelson’s 15-year-old son Caleb, a Scout with Troop 416, proposed to help work on the garden for his Eagle project.

The Scouts spent June 16 building garden beds for the vegetables.

They encountered some trouble with rocks in the soil, which require machinery to break down. Caleb

Nelson said they hope to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, squash, carrots, in addition to an annual and perennial section. Free trees will be planted along the sound barrier wall along Highway 18.

Caleb Nelson’s project will continue through the summer. Local business such as Cedar River Materials, P. Holmes Plumbing, LLC, and Cedar Grove Compost have donated a variety of materials as well as services ranging from dirt and irrigation system installation to compost and fences.

Rotary also made a $750 donation for the purchase of tools, materials and equipment, as well as pay for the water used for irrigation.

The combined effort, Steindl said, “sends a better message to the community” than if one group worked alone on it.

“It’s when we join our forces together we can get this done,” Holland said. “We could do it (alone), but it would be huge.”

For the “community” part of the garden, Holland said they will encourage families who receive food from The Storehouse to help maintain the garden.

In the meantime, Steindl said they still require mulch, manpower and donations.

“We’re going to everywhere to get help,” she said.

Another work party is scheduled for Saturday.

To volunteer or learn more about the garden, contact Richard Nelson at 425-495-4746.