Marymoor Community Garden provides produce to Hopelink food bank

To the nongardener's eye, the dozens of leafy potato plants lined up in the Hopelink plots at Marymoor Community Garden may not look like much.

But soon they will supply hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for Hopelink's Redmond food bank.

"Our clients love it," said Hopelink food bank manager Scott Milne. "We're able to save dollars within our budget." Hopelink, the Eastside's largest social-service agency, has six food banks throughout the area. It received 3,800 pounds of produce from the gardens last year, saving the agency about $5,700 that could be spent on other food, Milne said.

The goal this year is 5,000 pounds.

So far volunteers have picked and donated 1,500 pounds, but more help is needed, said Michelle Raymond, president of the Marymoor Community Gardeners Association.

"We always have jobs [for volunteers]," she said. "We're always glad to get as many hours as they can give us."

Throughout the year, about 30 volunteers work the eight plots set aside for Hopelink, doing everything from planting and weeding to taking the harvest to the food bank.

The produce includes leeks, squash, beans and a wide range of other vegetables.

"It's all organic. You can trust it nutritionally," Raymond said.

For Milne, who has a budget of $350 a week to buy food for the food bank, the Marymoor donation — the largest produce donation the food bank gets — allows for other purchases such as dairy products.

"It's helped us tremendously," he said. "The top quality of the produce [and] the variety might be too expensive in the store, and we wouldn't purchase it."

Nancy Kelsey: nkelsey@seattletimes.com