Praise God for young Katie Stagliano who at the age of 9 in 2008, brought home a seedling from school as part of a Bonnie Plants Third Grade Cabbage Program. Katie nurtured the seed and it thrived in fertile soil, sunshine and water. Katie kept the soil loose around her seedling, constantly pulled any weeds that might crop up, (sorry for the pun), and built a fence around the cabbage with her grandfather’s help. When it was time for harvest, her cabbage weighed a very hearty 40 pounds and an idea, even bigger than the cabbage, sprouted up, (the puns keep coming, but their Godly), that with this vegetable, she could help others.
Her mom called Fields to Families, a local organization in Summerville, S.C. that helps farmers donate surplus crops to feed the hungry. They directed her to a local soup kitchen where Katie watched her cabbage help feed 275 people.
The soup kitchen later closed its doors, but each month for two years Summerville Baptist Church has held a Katie’s Krops Dinner for anyone in the community who needs a free meal. At last November’s dinner which is one of the biggest she’s seen, Katie said, people were arriving 30 minutes early and filling up the church fellowship hall. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Katie’s school friends from Pinewood Preparatory School and the school’s food services director, along with a few other adults, bustled around setting up the serving line. Families, elderly people and homeless people would be receiving a balanced meal that night, (not just vegetables). Much of the produce served at the dinner comes from a plot of land her school set aside for Katie’s Krops and from seven other Katie’s Krops gardens in the area. Bonnie Plants donates seedlings and students from the school help tend and harvest the vegetables.
Following a request from Katie, Fields for Families offered a master gardener, Lisa Turocy, to work with her. “She’s been with us three years now and she comes to the dinners,” Katie said. “She thought, ‘Oh there’s this little girl who has a garden and wants to feed people.’ I don’t think she realized it would grow this big. I don’t think anyone did.” Katie’s Krops now has more than 60 youth-run gardens in 26 states from Maine to Hawaii and her goal is to inspire young people to start gardens in all 50 states.
Last year Katie was one of seven recipients of the Clinton Global Initiative Award for her work as a “social entrepreneur on pace to take my job before she turns 16,” former President Clinton said. Her mother Stacy, (whom I can only imagine is extremely proud of her young daughter), watched as her little seedling grew. “We believe that Katie’s cabbage was a gift from God to lead her down this path,” she said.
Katie credits support from her parents for the success of Katie’s Krops. “They don’t force (my brother and me) to do things for people but when we get inspired about something, they are very supportive,” Katie said. “They never say, ‘That won’t work,’ so we try it and they have our backs.” It all started five years ago with that huge cabbage that taught Katie she could help people, no matter how young she was.
I can only praise God for this young lady and what her inspiration is accomplishing. What a Godly example for our youth today!!!