Matt Troth, a volunteer at the Community Garden behind the First Christian Church in PIttsburg, picks cucumbers from the garden in this June 25 photo. The garden was created to provide fresh produce to those served by Wesley House. Last year, volunteers harvested and contributed 3,200 pounds; this year their goal is 10,000 pounds.

Volunteer gardeners Geoffrey Hines and Matt Troth, right, harvest red potatoes from the Community Garden on June 25.

Pittsburg ? Stop by the garden at 705 E. Centennial Ave., and several nights a week you’ll see Matt Troth weeding, watering and harvesting.

The garden is enormous — three acres. Ask him what grows and he’ll take a break, gesture to the various sections and rattle off the names with the cadence of someone who knows every square inch of the place.

“Tomatoes, sweet corn, grapes, blackberries, blueberries, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, green beans, pumpkins, squash, peas, onions, peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, apples, pears and herbs,” he says.

But little of it winds up on Troth’s own table. Instead, he hauls sometimes hundreds of pounds of it at a time to Wesley House, where Pastor Ellie Foster and the staff distribute it to local families.

In Pittsburg, 16 percent of the population lives below the poverty level, 60 percent of school-aged children receive free or reduced-price school lunches, and more than 10 percent of those older than 65 live in poverty, according to federal and state statistics.

One morning last summer, Troth took 120 pounds of cucumbers to Wesley House. The next day when he returned, they were gone.

“They gave away one or maybe two per family, so that gives you an idea of the kind of numbers they’re seeing in a day,” Troth said.

Some nights, Troth is joined by the Rev. Kevin Arensman of the First Christian Church, a stone’s throw from the garden. His church owns the land for the garden.

Arensman summed up the purpose of the project: “Feeding the hungry. You can’t do better theology than that.”

An accountant at Watco Companies by day, Troth is a Pittsburg native who dabbled in home gardening — the typical tomato plant or two — before taking on this project last summer. It was the brainchild of fellow congregation member Chad Titterington.

“You learn as you grow,” quipped Troth as he and Arensman knelt by the rows of red potatoes, shoveled up a few and debated whether they were ready.

The two often are joined by Geoffrey Hines, an accountant at National Pizza Co. He grew up watching his grandparents garden but hadn’t considered doing much of it until the community garden took root. “I feel so blessed in my own life, and this just feels like a great way to give back to the community,” he said.

They hope the garden will grow into something bigger. It produced 3,200 pounds last year, and their goal is 10,000 pounds this year. But the growth of which they speak isn’t just in pounds produced.

“We hope we can show others how easy it is and how good it is to grow your own food,” Troth said. “We also hope we can show others that they could donate some of the produce they grow at home — whatever they can’t eat themselves — to people in need. And, eventually we really would like to inspire those served by Wesley House to come and get involved.”

Should those hopes grow to fruition, it would solve the biggest challenge the garden faces: lack of labor.

“No previous experience is needed,” Hines said. “It’s on-the-job training.”

Troth said the garden has cost little in terms of dollars spent, thanks to several local businesses and individuals who contributed plants, trees and grant money.

Troth, Hines and Arensman acknowledge personal benefits as well.

“I feel closer to God out here. When you’re here working and seeing how everything grows from a seed … ,” said Troth, faltering as to how to finish the sentence.

So Arensman finished it for him: “Matt is one who would rather be serving God than sitting.”