Meet Katie Stagliano (@katieskrops) our eight podcast guest on our podcast DON'T QUIT DO IT available here: https://anchor.fm/dontquitdoit
Katie Stagliano, 21, from Summerville, South Carolina is the founder of Katie’s Krops, a not-for-profit with the mission to empower youth to start and maintain vegetable gardens of all sizes and donate the harvest to help feed people in need, as well as to assist and inspire others to do the same.
The idea for Katie’s Krops began when Katie was in the 3rd grade. In 2008 Katie brought home a tiny cabbage seedling from school as part of the Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program. She tended to her cabbage and cared for it until it grew to an amazing 40 pounds. Knowing her cabbage was special she donated to Tri-County Family Ministries a local soup kitchen where she served her cabbage to 275 guests of the soup kitchen.
Katie decided that day to start a vegetable garden and donate the harvest to those in need. Katie started with a garden in her backyard but knew she wanted to do more. She approached her school Pinewood Preparatory School and asked if she school could start a vegetable garden on the campus and donate the harvest to feed people in need in the community. The school embraced the idea and provided the then 4th grader with a plot of land the size of a football field. A large-scale garden at the school was born with the help of classmates and teachers. More gardens followed at farms, schools, homeless shelters, soup kitchens & private homes with the harvest from all donated to local soup kitchens, a homeless shelter, and families in need in the community. To date, Katie has donated thousands and thousands of pounds of healthy food to those in need.
Katie started numerous gardens in South Carolina but dreamed of having Katie's Krops gardens across the United States. To make this dream a reality, she offered grants to other kids to start gardens to feed people in need in their communities. The decision to offer grants was twofold; to expand her dream to feed people in need across the country and to pay it forward and believe in other kids the way, so many people/organizations had believed in her. For the first grant cycle, she received over 200 applications from kids ages 9 to 16 across the United States. Katie's Krops has launched numerous grant cycle. In the Spring of 2019, there were 100 Katie's Krops gardens growing across the country in 30 states. As of January 2020 Katie’s Krops Growers have donated over 300,000 pounds of produce.
Katie's Krops provides support and education to ensure that they have the tools to grow successful gardens. The children are passionate about their efforts and are having a positive impact on their communities. Her mission is to connect with other children who will provide a lasting impact on the community and provide them with the tools and funding to do so.
Cooking with her harvest has become an important part of Katie's Krops. When her local soup kitchen had to shut their doors for financial reasons Katie stepped up and asked if they would open for dinner if she came, provided the food, cooked and served so families in need would have healthy meals. The soup kitchen agreed, and for approximately a year, she gathered volunteers, created a healthy menu using the harvest from her garden and prepared meals. When the soup kitchen was no longer able to stay open for dinner, she was not deterred. Families in need in her community needed a place to eat; she would find a way to help. She found local churches and schools that believed in her, and she now hosts 'Katie's Krops Dinners.' The dinners are open to everyone, and Katie, along with her Katie's Krops crew, served 200+ meals per dinner, the largest dinner served 425 people in need. The dinners are healthy, well balance, and a wonderful social outlet for many people in need. Every meal is based on the harvest from her garden. In October of 2019, the Katie's Krops crew celebrates nine years of serving meals to families in need in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
Katie's Krops introduces children to agriculture, and the environment provides a sustainable solution to the problem of hunger and teaches responsibility and compassion. Katie has created a sustainable, healthy solution to hunger from the ground up. Learn more about her inspiring work in our podcast and check the links below for more!
Want to learn more?
Listen to the podcast here: https://anchor.fm/dontquitdoit
DON'T QUIT DO IT on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dontquitdoitpodcast/
Today is Her Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/todayisherstory/
Katies Krops on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katieskrops/
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