Hawthorne Gardening Company Opens Doors To New Greenhouse To Help Fight Hunger In The Community
Employees at ScottsMiracle-Gro’s Vancouver-based subsidiary will hydroponically grow fresh vegetables for local pantries and tables all year round
VANCOUVER, Washington –News Direct – ScottsMiracle-Gro
VANCOUVER, Wash., July 22, 2021 / 3BL Media / –– To tackle hunger facing thousands of their neighbors, The Hawthorne Gardening Company, a subsidiary of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, announced the opening of the doors today to a 4,000-square-foot greenhouse on the company’s global headquarters in Vancouver, Washington. Healthy foods such as vegetables, tomatoes and peppers are grown in the greenhouse all year round for local hunger-fighting organizations.
Nearly 65,000 people are starving in Clark County alone. Hawthorne is committed to reducing that number by providing more locally grown fresh food for neighbors in need. The greenhouse is serviced daily by Hawthorne employees who voluntarily harvest and deliver the produce to local food banks and pantries. Employees are committed to providing their community with 5,000 pounds of vegetables in the first year of production.
“Our hydroponic greenhouse will fill a unique niche in the community,” said Chris Hagedorn, executive vice president and division president of Hawthorne. “We can leverage Hawthorne’s innovative growing technologies to bring fresh, local produce to those most in need. The outdoor growing season in Vancouver is relatively short, which can make growing certain plants outdoors difficult. But the new greenhouse will enable us to provide the community with both heat-loving plants such as tomatoes and nutrient-rich leafy vegetables all year round. “
The plants are grown hydroponically in the greenhouse, which means “in a soil-free environment,” using some of Hawthorne’s latest product innovations in indoor lighting, growing media and nutrients. All plants are provided by Hawthorne’s partner Bonnie Plants. Hawthorne will donate its products to the Clark County Food Bank in its first year and plans to expand manufacturing and community partners in the future.
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“Clark County Food Bank is excited to partner with The Hawthorne Gardening Company, and we look forward to the more varied and abundant fresh foods their team will bring to the starving in our community,” said Emily Straw, program director for Clark County for Food Bank . “Seeing engagement and community involvement like Hawthorne’s is inspiring, and the board is grateful for their desire to help and the opportunity to learn from them during the process.”
The new greenhouse builds on Hawthorne and ScottsMiracle-Gro’s longstanding commitment to investing in local communities and improving people’s lives through gardening and cultivation. The project is personal to Hawthorne employees as the greenhouse is dedicated to a loved one who died of COVID-19 in 2020.
Learn more about how Hawthorne gives back to the community.
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For more information contact:
Molly JenningsFor Hawthorne Gardening [email protected] (561) 350.5734
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View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/hawthorne-gardening-company-opens-doors-to-new-greenhouse-to-fight-community-hunger-420034180