Williamsport, Pa. — Pa. Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding toured the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Community Garden & Urban Farm Wednesday morning.
This stop was the first of three in Lycoming and Northumberland counties on the Shapiro Administration’s weeklong 2026 Urban Agriculture Tour.
Redding, Wise, UPMC representatives, Furst, and Salvation Army members gather around Friederike Bauer holding a proclamation from the governor’s office.
Laura Ulrich
The 9 a.m. visit to the Park Avenue garden was joined by Matt Wise, a representative from State Sen. Gene Yaw’s office, R-Lycoming/Bradford/Sullivan, and highlighted a project that has grown from 8,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet since it broke ground in 2015.
Food insecurity drives the mission
Sid Furst, who manages the garden as a Salvation Army mission project, told Redding the effort traces back to an awareness of food insecurity in the region. Furst cited figures from Feeding America and the United Way’s ALICE study estimating that roughly 30% of Lycoming County’s approximately 120,000 residents — about 40,000 people — struggle to afford groceries week to week.
Redding and Furst smile as they discuss the challenges and joys of gardening.
Laura Ulrich
That need, Furst said, is what pushed the garden beyond its original raised-bed model, in which individuals and organizations sponsored and tended their own plots, into full-scale food production. The garden and its network of partner farms and the regional food bank now distribute roughly 12,000 pounds of food, according to Furst.
From bare lot to working farm
The site sat empty after two houses were demolished, leaving what Furst described as poor, compacted soil with no trees or plant cover.
Furst and Friederike Bauer.
Laura Ulrich
Friederike Bauer, a retired teacher who volunteers at the garden and helps lead its programming, said the site has been steadily rebuilt over the past decade using regenerative agriculture principles, such as cover cropping, crop rotation and succession planting to restore soil health.
Bauer said the garden has ramped up soil testing through Penn State Extension over the past two years, sending samples to State College for analysis rather than relying on guesswork.
The far northern end of the garden is dedicated to composting.
Laura Ulrich
One section that has been amended for several years is performing well, she said, while another area still needs continued work. UPMC Williamsport Hospital and Divine Providence contribute leaves for the garden’s own composting operation, which Bauer called “a real village” effort.
Laura Ulrich
The garden also draws on solar power, including a small wind turbine, to run a drip irrigation system installed with support tied to a UPMC residency grant. In exchange, the garden supplies fresh produce to a teaching kitchen used by medical residents.
Volunteers and a prison-funded greenhouse
Furst said the garden draws 40 to 50 individual volunteer appearances in a typical month, along with recurring group volunteer days from organizations including UPMC, Lycoming College, EQT, PPL, and the Junior League. Several neighborhood volunteers were on hand during Wednesday’s tour.
A UPMC rep asks a volunteer about cabbage.
Laura Ulrich
Furst also described how the garden’s newest greenhouse came to be funded: through a Bucknell Institute for Lifelong Learning “Inside Outside” course Furst participates in at SCI Coal Township, an incarcerated participant, Evan Wiles, asked what the garden needed.
When Furst mentioned the roughly $4,000 cost of a greenhouse, inmates at the facility raised the money themselves, and have since contributed an additional $1,000.
Redding and Furst in front of the garden’s greenhouse.
Laura Ulrich
This summer, the garden also ran its first Salvation Army summer garden camp, organized with Bauer’s help.
Bauer, who is completing Penn State Extension’s Master Gardener certification, said the program requires online coursework, exams, volunteer hours and in-person classes, and allows certified volunteers to advise home gardeners, though not to install gardens for pay.
Part of a statewide tour
The Red Shield stop is one of five this week under the Department of Agriculture’s Urban Agriculture Tour, which also visited Erie on Monday and Pittsburgh on Tuesday and is scheduled for Philadelphia on Thursday and Lancaster on Friday.
Redding takes notes, learning what he can from Furst and Bauer.
Laura Ulrich
The tour highlights projects funded through Pennsylvania Farm Bill Urban Agriculture Infrastructure Grants, Agriculture Innovation Grants, Fresh Food Financing Grants and other state agriculture programs. The Urban Ag Grant program is funded at $13.8 million for 2026-27 under the budget Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Sunday.
Redding’s Wednesday itinerary also included a 10:15 a.m. stop at Trinity Episcopal Church Garden and Apiary on West Fourth Street, which works with the Salvation Army garden to expand fresh food access in the surrounding neighborhood, and a 3 p.m. stop in Shamokin, where state Rep. Joanne Stehr, R-Schuylkill/Northumberland, joined Redding to tour the Fifth Warden Garden, Gateway Garden and Claude Kehler Park.
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