![\"Wright](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2016\/08\/17677_042-508x339.jpg\")
<\/a>Wright State Spanish major Ri Molnar provides produce to the community through the Pay It Forward Farm, a community supported agriculture program. (Photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n
Planting the garden is a lot of work. Building the beds in May is the most labor-intensive part. And as the soil compacts, wheelbarrows of composted manure have to be brought in.<\/p>\n
Produce from the farm is currently made available to about 30 people from Dayton, Centerville, Waynesville and Yellow Springs who pre-pay for the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery week they get a box of whatever is in season,\u201d said Molnar. \u201cWe do a sliding-scale fee to accommodate multiple incomes, even starting at zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
The garden is a veritable cornucopia. There are peppers, greens, celery, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, green beans, purple beans, yellow wax beans, pole beans, soybeans, scarlet okra, Cajun jewel okra and multiple varieties of heirloom tomatoes, including a Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye.<\/p>\n
Molnar said the families who pick up the produce are pleased with the quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get text messages all the time showing me pictures of their dinner,\u201d Molnar said. “\u2018Oh my gosh. My daughter ate spinach,\u2019 one text said. \u2018This has never happened before. She asked for seconds.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the vegetables are donated to a senior-citizens group of 10 at the Dakota Center in west Dayton. Weekly deliveries are made there.<\/p>\n
Molnar also tries to pass on their knowledge. Last year, Molnar started a camp designed to help young people learn about farming.<\/p>\n
Molnar spent much of her childhood in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the daughter of an engineer father and a nurse practitioner mother. Molnar became interested in their parents\u2019 garden as a child and was mentored in gardening by their aunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my aunt passed on, gardening became a way of continually connecting with her,\u201d Molnar said.<\/p>\n
Molnar attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs for two years, majoring in women\u2019s studies and ecology. They then took a break from college to do a little adventuring. They hopped on a motorcycle and rode to Flagstaff, Arizona, where earlier they had done a co-op stint as part of the Antioch curriculum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met this amazing radical feminist group that was doing grassroots organizing. It felt like the things I was studying I could live in real life and be supportive of,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cAnd then I got invited to be part of this dance company. It was just this magical thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ri](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2016\/08\/17677_013-508x339.jpg\")
<\/a>Ri Molnar is majoring in Spanish to increase their access to the Hispanic community, do some interpreting and work in social services.<\/p><\/div>\n
Four years later, Molnar moved to San Francisco. They later returned to Ohio and helped start the Pay It Forward Farm.<\/p>\n
Molnar enrolled at Wright State nearly two years ago and is majoring in Spanish<\/a>. They want to use the language to help the Spanish-speaking community gain greater access to social services through interpreting.<\/p>\n \u201cHere it feels like our communities are very much segregated,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cThere is a large Latino population here and a large migrant farmworker population, but those communities are so isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n Molnar has volunteered for Conversation for Change, a joint program with the Dayton Mediation Center and East End Community Center that connects people with rehabilitation services, counseling and financial aid. They hold leadership positions with SURJ, Showing Up for Racial Justice, and with Black & Pink, a group that supports LGBTQ prisoners and works toward eradicating prison violence against them. They also work for a Dayton group called STRONG, which helps children and teens who have suffered trauma.<\/p>\n In addition, Molnar works as an office assistant for the Wright State Retirees Association, which is devoted to serving the needs of the university\u2019s more than 1,100 retires and providing opportunities for continuing service to the university.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are so appreciative of my work, and everybody is very nice,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cIt\u2019s also really cool to learn how Wright State was in the past versus how it is now. They\u2019re very involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Molnar said that as a nontraditional student, they found Wright State very supportive in helping them navigate the school\u2019s academic offerings and financial aid.<\/p>\n Favorable weather and other factors have made the fourth season of the Pay It Forward Farm its most productive. Molnar would like to see more people take advantage of the produce.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a labor of love,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cSharing food is such a beautiful gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Molnar will start collecting membership in March, but people are welcome to get in touch before then through email or Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ri Molnar, a Spanish major, operates a community supported agriculture program that grows organic vegetables, charging supporters fees on a sliding scale. Continue reading