11-Year-Old Grows Veggies for the Homeless

[roxiejules]

http://civileats.com/2010/07/19/11-year-old-grows-veggies-for-the-homeless/#more-8796

When Katie Stagliano was in third grade, she planted a cabbage in her family’s small garden. When it grew to an astounding 40 pounds, she donated it to a soup kitchen, where it was made into meals for 275 people (with the help of ham and rice). “I thought, ‘Wow, with that one cabbage I helped feed that many people?’” says Katie, now entering sixth grade. “I could do much more than that.”

So Katie started planting vegetable gardens as part of her nonprofit Katie’s Krops — she has six right now — including one the length of a football field at her school in her hometown of Summerville, S.C. Classmates, her family and other people in the community help plant and water, and Bonnie Plants donates seedlings. This past year, Katie took her commitment to a new level: she has given soup kitchens over 2,000 pounds of lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables. Katie and her helpers are now harvesting the spring planting, and another 1,200 pounds will be donated by October.

“She just walks in like a proud little girl with her treasures in her arm,” says Sue Hanshaw, CEO of Tricounty Family Ministries, the soup kitchen in Charleston, S.C. where Katie first brought her 40-pound crucifer. “I love what she exudes, caring for others. It’s made a big impact on a lot of people.”

Locals Linda and Bob Baker, golf professionals with 41 acres of farmland set along a rutted dirt road on the outskirts of Summerville, gave Katie some acreage for a garden. Bob lugged his John Deer tractor to Katie’s school to till the soil, and taught Katie how to drive the machine. Says Bob: “It makes you feel so good to see someone that young with that amount of compassion, step in there and really make a difference.”

As one of Katie’s best friends said, most kids their age mainly like to watch TV and play on computers; they don’t like to do what Katie does. Another friend, Anna Semar, 11, inspired by Katie to grow her own vegetable garden, says: “If there were more people like Katie the world would be a better place.”

[Booster]

1. Wow. What a wonderful little girl. We all know kids who are

constantly saying "I'm bored". Wish they would do what Katie does.

[cutlassmama]

2. It indeed would be a better place. Just think if there were enough Katies'

we could all end world hunger.

[Prometheus Bound]

3. There's a leader.

[dgibby]

4. Thanks for posting this.

I live in Summerville, but was unaware of Katie and her project. This is something I'd very much like to support.

I sure hope she's having better luck with her garden than I've had with mine this year! Heat here has been brutal, heat index today is supposed to be 110 (in the shade!). My garden is fried, despite daily watering.