Correctional facility gives 500 pounds of produce to UGM
4:14 p.m. PDT September 22, 2016
The Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem donated 484 pounds of fresh produce to the Union Gospel Mission at the start of the month.
The facility provided the mission with a variety of fresh tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, corn, and peppers to help supplement meals served.
Mill Creek Correctional Facility is a minimum-security prison in Salem that houses approximately 290 male inmates who are within four years of release.
The Mill Creek garden is grown and harvested by adults in custody, who were “pleased to be able to give back to the local community,” according to Mill Creek officials.
The facility’s inmate population also benefits from the crops, as the fresh vegetables are used to supplement meals in the prison.
The Union Gospel Mission serves more than 200,000 meals every year to more than 2,000 people, which the produce will contribute to.
Twice a week the facility’s garden also bags produce for Marion-Polk Food Share. In 2015, the garden was able to donate more than 20,000 pounds of produce to the food share.
The facility opened in 1929 as the Farm Annex of the Oregon State Penitentiary, housing 50 adult male offenders. The Farm Annex provided all of the milk, eggs, meat, fruit, and vegetables for the Oregon State Penitentiary and the State Hospital.
It is the second oldest prison in the state.
Contact Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6745, or follow on Twitter @Nataliempate, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist or on the Web at nataliepate.com
Natalie Pate 