Starke County Sheriff's Office is asking for your help!!

Please help us get "The People's Choice" award thru Indiana Department of Corrections for their Inaugural Garden.

On Facebook, go to Cultivating Community Partnerships with IDOC , scroll down to the People's Choice Award and vote for Starke County PLEASE Vote multiple times!!

Starke County F.A.R.M

In just our 2nd year the Starke County Justice Centers Garden yielded over 4951lbs of produce and close to 900lbs were donated to assisted living facilities and Starke County Council on Aging. The remainder was served in the Justice Center as a supplement to Offender Meals.

The F.A.R.M is an acronym for Fostering A Recovery Mentality. The FARM utilized the skills of many talented and hardworking Offenders and staff. Offender help was supplied by Starke County Inmates as well as DOC Therapeutic Community Offenders. In addition to the 2 gardens, 2 green houses were also constructed with Flowers being grown and distributed to nursing homes and businesses within Starke County free of charge.

The bulk of the produce, around 70% was used within the jail and served as part of their daily meals, the other 30% was donated to local food banks and nursing homes.

At this time of the year we are preparing the greenhouses for winter seedlings of vegetables and flowers to be planted sometime in late January. We can now use our greenhouses to their full capacity.

We will continue to donate to the organizations previously mentioned as well as using the bulk to serve to our inmate population.

This program has been a HUGE positive experience, not only for the offenders but for the staff as well, giving them an opportunity to interact at a different level in a different setting outside the walls of the Justice Center.

Sheriff Bill Dulin