Oregon Food Bank and Five Oaks Middle School Garden

Oregon Food Bank and Five Oaks Middle School established a new gardening program in Washington County in 2010, within 3 blocks of OFB’s distribution center site. The Westside Learning Garden is housed on the grounds of Five Oaks Middle School, where the Rachel Carson Environmental Middle School is located. Each school year, 180 Rachel Carson student volunteers share their energy and enthusiasm to tend the garden while learning about gardening and hunger in a hands‐on environment.

Students work in the garden one day a week. Produce grown in the plot is donated to families via OFB West’s Network of local hunger-relief agencies. OFB’s Learning Gardens are aimed at increasing self-sufficiency and food security for low-income families.