Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Fitzpatrick.
Hi Karen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Plant a Row Lehigh Valley, for which I am now the coordinator, was founded in 2016 by Joseph Martin. Joseph grew up gardening and began volunteering at an early age with his mom at food pantries. He was an Eagle Scout, a volunteer fireman, and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He continued volunteering throughout his college years at DeSales University.
When he graduated in 2013, he was at a loss as to where to focus his energies. A friend of his posed the following question:
“What would the world be less beautiful without?”
Joseph’s immediate thought was: plants and the beauty that gardens bring.
In 2014, Joseph became involved with the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council (LVFPC) and the Easton Food Respect and Recovery Group (which was begun through the LVFPC). He saw the need to expand beyond Easton, while keeping the food in the local areas.
In 2015, he learned about the national Plant A Row For The Hungry program. He requested help from the Penn State Master Gardeners to assist him in starting a local chapter. He and Sue Kowalchuk (one of the Master Gardeners) went to a bi-county meeting on Food Insecurity that was attended by representative from many entities in the Lehigh Valley (United Way, Sue Daladan LVFPC, ProJect, etc). As is typical for large scale meetings and ideas, things were moving a bit slowly for Joseph. He decided to forge ahead with his idea.
In 2016, Joseph purchased bins for the drop off locations, had signs made, launched the PARLV website, and established a mailchimp account for a weekly newsletter. With the help of Master Gardeners, Sue Kowalchuk, Anthony Moyer, and Lois Prytherch drop off locations were identified, route schedules were established and volunteer drivers were recruited. In June of 2016, PARLV was launched.
I saw an ad for PARLV in my church bulletin. My husband and I had just started our first garden, and so we began donating at the Bogie Garden and Lehigh Home and Garden Center.
The following year, I volunteered to be a driver, and was assigned the Saturday pick up at the Bogie Garden. My husband got roped into driving when I had some medical issues. Fortunately, the Bogie Garden was the location of the Knights of Columbus Garden of Mercy,
In 2018, PARLV was expanding. With his responsibilities at work, he needed more help in keeping PARLV running. He formed a leadership team. I took over the website, social media and the newsletter. He also was seeking a person to take over the coordinator position. I told him I would take it if no one else stepped forward.
In 2019, Joseph accepted a position with a new company, which would mean a relocation to California. No one else had offered to take over the coordinator position, so I became the coordinator. Along with Joseph, Susan Dalandan was helpful in getting me prepared for this new role.
In 2025, my husband and I took over the six raised beds in the South Whitehall Township Recycling center adjacent to the Parkland Community Library, which were established by the Allentown West Rotary Club. I had already been helping out there and at their garden plots at the Lehigh County Community Garden – Cedarbrook.
PARLV also began our partnership with the YMCA in Allentown to teach the preschool students and summer camp kids about gardening. They had 10 raised beds and 3 tire tube planters that were not being used. In late winter I began teaching the preschoolers about gardening. In the spring, my husband and I prepped the beds. Some of the preschool students helped us plant the beds. At least once a week, the children come out to the garden to see what is growing and help with the harvest. When the summer camp begins, those students continue to learn about what is growing and help with harvesting and weeding the garden. The food grown in the garden helps feed the students and the extra is set out for their parents to take home. We are now in our 2nd year of this partnership. Members of the YMCA staff assist us with the daily watering, and harvesting when we are away.
Plant a Row Lehigh Valley
Helping to feed the hungry one pound at a time!
• Who we are: Plant a Row Lehigh Valley (PARLV) was launched in 2016, as a chapter of the national Plant a Row for the Hungry program. We are a totally volunteer organization, whose goal is to assist food-insufficient individuals and families in the Lehigh Valley by providing fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables during the growing season. We are local gardeners who dedicate a row(s) in our garden and/or surplus to donate to our neighbors in need.
• What we do: We provide convenient donation drop off locations across Lehigh and Northampton counties from June to October. Our drop off locations include churches, community centers, community gardens, home & garden centers, public libraries, and private homes.
Volunteer drivers transport the donations received to area food banks, pantries, meal centers, soup kitchens and shelters in Berks, Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
• Our impact: In our 1st season we collected just over 3,000 pounds of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs to food-insufficient families and individuals in Lehigh and Northampton Counties. We began with nine locations and five recipients. Last season we expanded our outreach to Berks County and had a record season of 16,559 pounds. In 10 seasons we have collected and distributed 102,089 pounds of donations.
Our first 10 seasons:
Season Year Locations Recipients Season Total
1 2016 9 5 3,028.60
2 2017 14 5 5,003.20
3 2018 20 12 6,012.03
4 2019 16 12 6,258.18
5 2020 22 15 15,080.88
6 2021 19 21 11,020.42
7 2022 23 27 11,162.46
8 2023 26 28 15,109.20
9 2024 26 26 12,854.74
10 2025 27 29 16,559.29
Total 102,089.00
Today, Plant a Row Lehigh Valley is a network of 23 donation drop off sites, nine contributing gardens, and 30 recipients, serviced by 23 permanent drivers and 5 back up drivers. We supply fresh homegrown produce to the hungry every day of the week.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the hardest parts of my job is matching drop off locations with recipients. Some recipients only have a distribution once a month, or have limited times that they accept donations. Some drop off locations receive more donations than others, so I have been working to try and distribute donations more evenly to recipients.
It takes time for a new drop off location to catch on. Some locations promote PARLV more than others. Promoting is key to the success of a drop off location.
Occasionally, we receive donations that are not fresh. We have also experienced theft of our donations at some locations.
Funding is an issue. We used to fall under the umbrella of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council. When they lost their funding from United Way, we lost our source of funding. We would like to become a 501(c)3 non-profit, but that cost money to apply.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a retired High School Teacher. I have been volunteering for over 40 years. I volunteered for Army Community Services. I have coached cheerleading and soccer. I volunteered at my children’s’ schools doing gardening, coordinating assembly programs, and was a member of the parent/teacher associations and their high school band parents association.
I have volunteered at our local library. I have volunteered at Lehigh Valley Hospital for over 15 years. I am part of a knitting, crocheting and sewing group at my church. We donate baby items, hats and gloves, toys, twiddle muffs, neck cushions and lap blankets to local hospitals, city schools, hospice and memory care units, and a temporary lodging at one of our local hospitals.
I am a lector at my church and distribute communion to three local assisted living/nursing homes twice a month.
I am the president of the Rutgers Club of Lehigh Valley. Each year we are part of the Lehigh Valley Alumni Club Food Challenge to raise money for Second Harvest
I assist my husband in his charitable work through the Knights of Columbus, and am the membership chair for our Women’s Guild at Church.
I have been the coordinator for PARLV since 2019, but could not do what I do with out all of my volunteer drivers, local gardeners and location partners.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://plantarowlv.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantarowlv/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plantarowlv/
- Twitter: https://x.com/plantarowlv
