JK Community Farms Kicks off Growing Season with 50,000 Seedlings

Loudoun Now – William Timme

JK Community Farm’s annual Plant-A-Thon kicked off today, commencing the growing season by partnering with volunteers and nonprofits to plant over 50,000 seedlings.

The Plant-A-Thon sees teams from companies and nonprofits as well as individual volunteers, donate their time to support the nonprofit’s mission to combat food insecurity. JK Community Farms donates 100% of its yield of produce and proteins to food pantries throughout the region, including Loudoun Hunger Relief and other nonprofit partners such as Food for Others, Arlington Food Assistance Center, and DC Central Kitchen.

Since JK Community Farms started in 2018, the organization has donated 250,868 meals, grown 313,585 pounds of food for local food pantries, and hosted 7,322 volunteers for planting and harvesting.

Executive Director Samantha Kuhn said the farm selects its produce varieties based on the desires of the families at those food pantries.

A group today comprising Pathways Homes and other volunteers planted 1,700 seedlings. Kuhn said that two hours of work alone would yield 13,800 pounds of food.

“This is a great opportunity to be here with JK Farms because we’re all a part of an ecosystem, right?” Pathways Homes President Sylisa Lambert-Woodard said.

Pathways Homes is a nonprofit dedicated to helping individuals marginalized by poverty and those with mental health issues acquire housing.

“So many of the individuals that we serve – because the average income that they make is about $780 a month – many of these individuals are food insecure,” Lambert-Woodard said. “Being able to connect with the farms to help us develop our food bank and food pantry … it’s a great way of just interfacing with one another, and each one of us helping each one of us to be able to address the unmet needs in the community.”

This year, the Plant-A-Thon will see more than 400 volunteers over its two days. Participating companies include CapRelo, JK Moving, AFAC, Chess Consulting, QTS Data, and Cigna.

The JK Community Farm is located at 35516 Paxson Road near Round Hill. Learn more at jkcommunityfarm.org.