Fresh fruits and vegetables are often unaffordable for those living in poverty, especially with rising grocery prices and the lagging economy.

But beginning next summer, low-income seniors in Federal Way will have access to fresh produce through a new community garden sponsored by the Federal Way Senior Center.

Last week, more than 100 volunteers from the local Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, Soroptomists, AmeriCorps and the senior center worked together to build garden beds and clean up the property around the senior center in preparation for the garden. Community volunteers will tend the garden and the first vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers are expected early next summer.

The planning began as an activity for seniors to do with children as part of a mentoring program at the senior center, and it grew from there, said Nathan Brown, Federal Way Senior Center executive director.

“There was so much interest in that, that we began to think about it in larger terms,” Brown said.

The garden will span 10,000 square feet and include raised beds, said Mike Stanley, project manager and head gardener. There will be an area for physically challenged people that can be tended easily by people in wheelchairs and walkers. There will also be an area for children that will include decorations such as bunnies and bears. The largest area, where most of the crops will grow, will be the production area.

Paths through the garden along with flowers and fruit trees will create an atmosphere that is welcoming for people to visit as well as work in, Stanley said.

“The whole idea is to have something that is really a pretty garden as well as a functional garden,” he said.

Produce from the community garden will feed more than 3,000 low-income seniors through the senior center’s food bank, the Multi-Service Center, the Meals on Wheels program and a farmers market set up in the Shag apartment complex for low-income seniors.

“The way the economy is going, I think there’s going to be an awful lot of people in need,” said Deb Stenberg, a member of the community garden advisory committee.

Members of the public are invited to volunteer to help tend the garden, but there will not be plots available for rental like a pea patch garden.

“For the most part, the idea is to grow it to give it away,” Stanley said.

Contact Margo Hoffman: mhoffman@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.

Community Garden organizers are seeking individuals, businesses, churches, service organizations and school groups to donate cash, supplies or physical labor to the community garden. Businesses that donate $500 or more to sponsor a plot will receive a plaque in the garden. For more information, e-mail michael_stanley@usa.net.