- Clair Community Garden in North Omaha is providing fresh produce to families struggling with rising grocery costs while giving young people hands-on gardening and nutrition education.
- Pastor Portia Cavitt runs the garden with a straightforward goal: giving people access to healthy fruits and vegetables
- Kids in the program are learning more than how to grow food. They're also learning business basics by growing zucchini they'll bake into goods to sell, taking their education from production to profit.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As rising grocery costs make it harder for families to put fresh food on the table, Clair's Community Garden is planting a solution in North Omaha by teaching young people how to grow their own food while providing fresh produce to the community.
For Pastor Portia Cavitt, the goal is simple.
"So that people will have access to healthy fruits and vegetables," Cavitt said.
With the help of many young volunteers, that mission is taking root across the neighborhood, providing fresh produce to families who need it most.
During the summer, Cavitt works with North Omaha kids, teaching them about gardening and nutrition.
"So that they can learn how to eat healthy, but also grow food. That's what we learned when we were children," Cavitt said.
Kameron Leeper has worked in the garden for 4 years. He says learning how to grow fruits and vegetables is something every kid should know.
"Teaching the kids how to plant food. It's just a great experience overall," Leeper said.
The garden is full of collard greens, cabbage, tomatoes and a new favorite — kale chips.
Community members in need have also found their way to Cavitt's door. On one recent visit, two women contacted Cavitt while she was harvesting.
"I was so happy that they called. They said they were in need of food and various people donate store bought food, so I have a separate pantry for persons that I need to come outside of my food bank," Cavitt said.
One of those visitors, Latasha, described what it meant to find the garden.
"And I'm disabled, so... this really helps a whole lot," Latasha said.
"And we've been in the line blocks away, you know? But once we got to these doors, it was like, How can we help?" Latasha said.
For Latasha, the garden represents something bigger than fresh produce.
"Everyone needs help at this point. I don't care if you're rich, or poor. Everybody needs help. It's community and giving back to each other. So that's the best part," Latasha said.
The kids also planted zucchini, which they will later bake into goods to sell, teaching them how a business works from the ground up from production to profit.
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