Homegrown help for Wildcats in need

Every Thursday morning, Pima County Master Gardener volunteers deliver a truckload of freshly harvested produce to the University of Arizona Campus Pantry. The donated crates of leafy greens, root vegetables, herbs and fruit are grown in the Master Gardener demonstration gardens to bolster the program’s community education efforts. Now, they’ll also support U of A students, staff and faculty who are experiencing food insecurity.

Nationwide, Master Gardener programs are required to donate any food they grow to food assistance organizations. The Pima County program has donated to groups across Tucson and Green Valley, and when they learned about the U of A’s Campus Pantry, they were eager to forge a partnership.

“Times are getting harder for everyone, and more and more people are experiencing food insecurity,” said Celeste Gambill, Pima County Master Gardener program manager. “College students are an especially vulnerable population – they’re on their own for the first time, and they may be struggling without knowing what to do about it. Making sure students can access fresh fruit and vegetables was something we wanted to be a part of.”

Educational resources – with benefits

Pima County’s Master Gardener program is part of Arizona Cooperative Extension, a network of experts, trained educators and volunteers that connects communities with research and resources from the University of Arizona, the state’s land-grant institution. In addition to the popular “Ask a Master Gardener” service, the program supports gardeners – or would-be gardeners – with free classes, events and tours of its demonstration gardens.

“Our program’s primary focus is educating people on sustainable gardening in the desert,” Gambill said. “The demonstration garden covers 1.5 acres and include a xeriscape garden, pollinator garden, container garden, propagation nursery, and gardens dedicated to roses, flowering plants, native grasses, cactus and succulents, and a variety of desert-adapted fruits and vegetables.”

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The demonstration gardens are maintained by certified Master Gardener volunteers, experts trained in planting, irrigation and composting methods suited to desert horticulture.

“Our gardening is based in science and research, right down to the varieties of produce we grow,” Gambill said. “We’ll grow edible plants from all over the world that are appropriate for the desert. We take into account what the science says in terms of which plants our unique growing seasons will support.”

While education is the primary goal for the program’s two edible demonstration gardens, they do produce a large quantity of food. Gambill said the Pima County gardens donated just over two tons of fruits and veggies to local groups in 2025.

“Produce donations are an added benefit,” she said. “Even though that isn’t our main goal, it still supports Cooperative Extension’s mission. We are here to help the public in any way we can.”

From the garden to the pantry

When Gambill’s program offered to donate their harvested produce to the Campus Pantry, the response was “an immediate, enthusiastic yes,” said Pete McGraw, the senior coordinator for the U of A’s Basic Needs Center and Services.

“Produce is hard to come by for a lot of folks who use our resource,” he said. “It’s our most popular food station, and we get a lot of requests for a greater variety of options. The Master Gardeners are able to donate a massive amount of food, and a lot of it is items we don’t have often, if at all.”

The Campus Pantry offers free supplemental groceries to the entire campus community – including faculty and staff – to the tune of about 1,500 to 1,600 visits per week, according to McGraw.

“It’s set up like a grocery store, and folks are able to come in and choose what they want,” he said. “We have a wide variety of things, including frozen items, fresh produce and some shelf-stable, nonperishable foods. Everything works on a point system, and all you need is a CatCard. You get six points per visit, and you can visit twice a week.”

While the Campus Pantry receives funding from the university, food donations are an essential part of their operations.

“We spend about $10,000 a week on groceries just to try to keep the shelves stocked,” said McGraw. “Donations certainly help because that makes our budget stretch that much farther.”

Gambill and McGraw hope the partnership between their two programs will be a fruitful one.

“We’re very excited to be able to support the students this way and to strengthen those ties with the campus,” Gambill said.

McGraw agreed: “It’s a great partnership for us, and we’re happy to have it.”