Hale County has moved into first place in Alabama Extension’s Grow More, Give More 250-Pound Challenge, with 15,191 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables donated as of Monday, Aug. 31, according to the statewide leaderboard Extension posted this week.
Butler County was second with 14,175 pounds, followed by Marshall County with 8,909, Coosa County with 6,559 and Mobile County with 6,463. Fifty counties had reported donations, and 32 had met or exceeded the 250-pound goal, Extension said.
The challenge, which runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day, asks gardeners in every Alabama county to grow extra this season and donate at least 250 pounds of fresh produce to a food bank, community kitchen, church or neighbor in need. Extension launched it in support of America250 at Auburn University, the university’s yearlong observance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, building on the Grow More, Give More effort that began during the Covid-19 pandemic, when home gardeners were urged to plant an extra row and pass along what they picked.
Donations count through Monday, Sept. 7, and can be logged at aces.edu/go/250Challenge.
Among the growers behind the county’s total is Charles “Pete” Clinton, owner of Clinton Farm Market in Greensboro, whom the Hale County Extension office singled out last week for donating an estimated 1,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to local families and individuals in need this season.
Clinton has been farming and serving his community for 78 years, the office said, and has given away squash, okra, watermelons, tomatoes, peas, corn and more. His philosophy, as the office put it, is simple: if he grows it and they need it, he gives it. Clinton said he gives to people who may not have the money to buy the produce he normally sells at the market.
“It is good to help people because you never know when you will need someone to help you,” Clinton said.
