This week's unsung hero's are the volunteers at Union County Gardens. Giving up their own time to help people in the community have access to fresh produce is something Tom and Shari Sadowski have been doing for years.
UNION COUNTY, IL (WSIL) -- This week's unsung hero's are the volunteers at Union County Gardens.
Giving up their own time to help people in the community have access to fresh produce is something Tom and Shari Sadowski have been doing for years.
Sometimes a green thumb is just in the jeans.
But it's not too often you see two people with green thumbs and hearts of gold.
"We thought when we retire we want to give back to the community, because when you're working you don't have time for all of that so we kind of combined our love of gardening and this was our way of being able to give back to the community," explained Shari Sweeney-Sadowski.
Their love of gardening, each other, and the help of volunteers has helped Tom and Shari pick about 100 bags of fresh produce a week to people in Union County.
"People should have the option to have good food I mean we hear about food pantries and what goes through and there is a lot of processed food and we said why can't they have good food as well?" explained Tom Sadowski.Â
"How good does it feel to give back to those families that you see come up on Wednesday morning after you just freshly picked produce out of this garden?" asked
"Oh it's incredible and sometimes I'll be carrying baskets in of what we've harvested and people are trying to grab it before we even get it in to the food pantry to bag it up and weigh it. It's really incredible and almost brings tears to my eyes when that happens," explained Tom.Â
From sweet potatoes to collard greens there's quite the variety at Tom and Shari's garden.
"Knowing that kids are getting carrots and sugar snap peas and families are able to make a salad because if you're on a budget it's very difficult to spend money on those types of things so that's our biggest joy," said Shari.
A couple green thumbs this community is thankful to have around.
"This is bigger than Tom and I and you know the people that are here this is about community," added Shari.
Union County Gardens is open year round depending on the weather and the food pantry is open on Wednesdays at the Choate Mental Health Center.
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