Owasso community garden helps fight hunger with fresh produce and volunteer support

A community garden behind an Owasso elementary school is growing more than just vegetables — it’s growing hope for neighbors in need, thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers.

In Owasso, volunteers recently gathered behind Bailey Elementary School to shovel mulch, plant vegetables, and expand the Owasso Community Garden. The goal? Feed local families through the Owasso Community Resources Food Pantry.

“We're making a difference in actual people's lives,” said Hayley Randall, manager of the Owasso Community Garden.

The garden was originally started two years ago as a Girl Scout project, when Randall helped a troop install the first six beds.

“They took care of the garden the first year, the first six beds along here, this is what they put in,” Randall said.

Since then, the garden has grown by about 50 percent and now includes garlic, asparagus, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, herbs like dill and cilantro, and trellises full of snap peas.

Maddux Inouye, an Owasso High School junior, said he was inspired by the turnout for the volunteer day.

“You can see how many people are here helping Owasso, just out of their own time, not getting paid for it, just their own time,” he said.

Volunteers have also added a new feature to the garden: a rain garden that collects runoff and reduces mud. Cassie Brockman, one of the volunteers, said the native plants and pollinators will benefit both the environment and the gardeners.

“We get a nice little native planting, get some pollinators out here. It’s better for the wildlife, better for nature, and then it'll also help us not make have kind of as muddy of boots when we're out here working,” Brockman said.

Randall said the team selects produce with the pantry in mind.

“We're growing food specifically for these people, with them in mind throughout the whole process, from picking things that have good, stable shelf life, or just things that they don't get donated a lot, or unique things that they're not going to be able to get in a grocery store even if they wanted to,” she said.

As the garden continues to expand, so does the sense of community and purpose among the volunteers.

“I have learned that I used to think that my ideas were too big and that I maybe sometimes dreamed a little too big, and I've learned that's not the case, that I just have to find the right people. And clearly I found them, so that's been a really, really great thing,” Randall said.

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