According to the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative, more than 750,000 Kansans did not have access to healthy food within a reasonable distance of their home in 2023. Approximately 26 percent of those Kansans also live in low access areas, otherwise known as a “food desert.” One of the many communities in Kansas suffering as a food desert is in McCune. While McCune Farm to Market provides local produce, meats, and eggs along with basic groceries, the next closest grocery store is 21 miles east in Pittsburg or 15 miles west to Parsons. In an effort to tackle food insecurity in the rural area, the McCune Lions Club has been maintaining a community garden for several years. “Live Well came over here six years ago and Greenbush was still using the school here at that time and they got with them and they wanted to put this building here and have the students work in it part-time,” said Lions Club member Clint McColm. “Well, they asked the city if they wanted it on their ground and they said ‘no’ so I called them that next morning after they met with the city and I said ‘Hey, the Lions Club, we have ground out here that we’ll let you put it on.’ “… Live Well hired the Amish to build it. They built it for us and once it was built, then they signed it over to the Lions Club. We had a garden club from the church and they helped us for a year.”
Source: Morning Sun