Courtesy of Debbra Arndt
Debbra Arndt grows more than 500 plants in her garden in O’Fallon, Missouri. Tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, squash, peppers (green, chili, jalapeno, and ghost), cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberries from 30-year-old plants occupy raised beds in Arndt's modestly sized back yard, where she grows Our Giving Hands Garden.
Arndt donates the bounty of her garden to her “friends,” elderly in the area who cannot afford to eat healthily.
Everything Arndt does results from her childhood. Surrendered at the age of four to a private orphanage in St. Louis City, Arndt wasn't able to be adopted out because her parent did not sign a release for her. Moving from foster home to foster home, Arndt knew hunger and heartache. At 16, she was emancipated and later became a geriatric nurse in an assisted living facility, where she noticed that many of the elderly living there didn’t have socks. Arndt realized that there was an easy solution to that problem, so she delivered socks to the clients while dressed as Mrs. Claus with her daughter in tow.
Arndt spent the bulk of her married life on a farm in Mount Vernon, Virginia with her husband. From that farm, the couple grew produce for the poor and elderly. When her husband passed away, she moved back to O’Fallon and decided to continue her work on a smaller scale.
Courtesy of Debbra Arndt
Arndt hears about her friends in need through word of mouth, and she keeps their names in a binder. She arranges drop-offs in O’Fallon and also delivers to assisted living facilities, carrying her goods in her pick-up, which bears her logo and mission statement: “Grow a garden and feed your neighbor.”
Arndt is devoted to teaching others how to grow fruits and vegetables for sharing with those in need. She's equally dedicated to educating people about how many of the elderly can so easily fall into poverty. She blames the difficulty of accessing nutritional assistance and the rise of property taxes in her area. Many of the seniors she knows bought their houses decades ago and paid them off but now face rising property taxes they can’t afford.
To help offset her own bills and to support Our Giving Hands Garden, Arndt saves a portion of her bounty for canning and pickling. Her strawberry-ghost-pepper jam and Redneck Insanity Pickles are popular, as are her apple butter, tomato jam, and salsas. In exchange for the goods, customers make donations.
Courtesy of Debbra Arndt
Courtesy of Debbra Arndt
“Mama,” one of the women she fed for over 30 years in Mount Vernon, taught her how to garden, pickle, and can preserves. A dresser Mama’s husband had given to her on their wedding day sits in Arndt’s home, along with a painting of The Last Supper, both of which were willed to her. A tour through Arndt’s house revealed other furniture pieces and paintings given to her by former friends she fed. As she recalls who gave her what, she says, “They are my family—all my grandpas and grandmas I’ve ever had.”
Original drawings and paintings, many in progress, she donates to charity auctions rest nearly everywhere in her house. Arndt was especially proud to show the wooden keepsake boxes she makes for children in foster care—a box of their own that can travel with them from home to home. Also on display are photographs of her husband, son, daughter, and granddaughter, but she possesses only one picture of herself as a child. “I tell people to get the pictures actually printed and put them in a book,” she says with the wisdom of someone who has little tangible evidence of her childhood.
A breast cancer survivor who describes herself as “bull-headed,” Arndt declares, “I’m not going to stop what I’m doing,” despite what obstacle she faces, whether it’s a politician who won’t listen to her or someone who calls her crazy.
To contact Arndt directly, email her at ourgivinghandsgarden2009@yahoo.com. To donate toward her cause, click on the link for a GoFundMe campaign started by Rob Greenfield, an activist who travels the world educating people about sustainability.
