Community Spotlight: Clara White Harvest Farm

Who they are

The Clara White Mission was founded in 1904 but dates back to the 1880s in Jacksonville when former slave Clara English White began feeding her hungry neighbors out of her home on Clay Street. Her daughter, Dr. Eartha M. M. White would become a renowned humanitarian and work to build the Clara White Mission into a centenarian foundation not only focused on housing and feeding the hungry and displaced but also providing vocational programs to put people to work.

Along the way, the White Harvest Farm was built into the foundation. At White Harvest Farm, the foundation is not only able to grow organic food to feed the nearly 1000 families they aid each week, but to also act as a community hub for education on self-sustainability, urban gardening, and urban beekeeping.

Involvement

Recently CARES activated a group of volunteers to go out to the White Harvest Farm for a day volunteering in the August sun as they reap the last of the summer harvest and prepare for fall. Together, the volunteers tackled several projects for the foundation including digging holes for irrigation, shoveling and loading mulch, and harvesting hibiscus buds for tea and jelly. We were able to harvest over 14 lbs of hibiscus buds and process them to be ready for use to feed the community.

How you can get involved

The White Mission Farm seeks volunteers every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. If you have not yet reached your VTO goal for the year, and are interested in making a meaningful impact on the community while working in the garden, you can enroll in the volunteer slots they have available at their website linked here. The Farm also has a weekly Farms Market on Saturdays to fund its efforts and offer affordable workshops to teach food sustainability skills to those who are interested.