Katie’s Krops dinner at Summerville Baptist
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The Katie’s Krops Camp
The Katie’s Krops Camp is an immersive growing experience for our young Katie’s Krops Growers from across the country. Once a year, over the summer, upwards of 10 young Katie’s Krops growers are invited to travel to South Carolina and the farm of WP Rawl, our camp sponsor. WP Rawl is a family-owned and operated farm that specializes in leafy greens and other seasonal vegetables across the United States such as Nature’s Greens® and Versatile Veggies®. Their generosity makes this all-expenses-paid camp possible. There is no charge for the campers or the chaperones.
During the course of the camp, our growers come together and learn new and creative growing techniques, host a service project, create lasting friendships with fellow growers, receive valuable information on food safety, tour the impressive Rawl farm and so much more.
It has always been Katie’s dream to create a sustainable solution to hunger by creating a young family of growers. This camp is an opportunity to bring the Katie’s Krops growers together, to learn new skills, to make new friends and grow the dream that is Katie’s Krops.
The 2016 Katie’s Krops Camp will be held June 27th to June 29th. Katie’s Krops Camp is exclusively for our young Katie’s Krops growers and is not open to the general public. To become a Katie’s Krops Grower you must apply for a grant from Katie’s Krops. Our next grant cycle will open in October of 2016 for the 2017 growing season.
Thank you to our wonderful friends at WP Rawl for making this camp possible!
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Announcing the Katie’s Krops Scholarship Program
Youth volunteers are the heart of our organization. It is through their dedication to ending hunger, one vegetable garden at a time, that we are truly able to grow and impact so many lives. In order to recognize our young volunteers and the invaluable service that they provide to their communities, we are implementing the Katie’s Krops Scholarship Program. Beginning this year, Katie’s Krops will award one scholarship to a youth volunteer in our flagship area of South Carolina and one scholarship to a grantee who is growing with us around the United States.
The two $500 Katie’s Krops Educational Scholarships will be presented to two young volunteers who embody the spirit of Katie’s Krops and embrace the belief that kids can help end hunger in their community. The Katie’s Krops Volunteer Scholarship will be awarded in July and the Katie’s Krops Grantee Scholarship will be awarded in October.
Katie’s Krops would like to thank all of the young volunteers who dedicate their time and efforts to improving their communities. We are exceedingly proud of each and every one of you as you support your communities and support the dream of Katie’s Krops!
Our wonderful Katie’s Krops volunteers
Our dedicated grantee growers
What is a Katie’s Krops Dinner?
What is a Katie’s Krops Dinner?
One, sometimes two, times a month we host a Katie’s Krops Dinner. So just what is a Katie’s Krops Dinner? Why do we host Katie’s Krops Dinners?
Over two years ago a need presented itself in my community. That need was for hot, healthy, free meals for families and individuals facing hunger. The only soup kitchen in our community had to shut their doors for financial reasons. I may have been only twelve years old but I recognized that our local Katie’s Krops Gardens could be the solution to this problem.
What was the solution? Using the harvest from our gardens we could create healthy, hot meals for anyone in need in my home town, Summerville, South Carolina. At Katie’s Krops, we had always donated our harvest to food pantries, soup kitchens and directly to families in need but at that point in time we had never cooked with our harvest. I approached the head of Food Services at my school, Mr. McNeill and my 6th Grade Science teacher, Cory Fuller. Together we created a plan. We would arrange a meal based on the harvest from our Katie’s Krops Gardens. What we couldn’t grow we would need to purchase. Our garden volunteers would help us create the dinner. The very first Katie’s Krops Dinner was born.
That very first night we came together to host a dinner was so very special. My friends and I, under the direction of our Head Chef Mr. McNeill prepared a wonderful meal. We were able to connect with the people that our gardens helped. We took to the kitchen, the majority of the volunteers only in the 6th grade. Mr. McNeill directed us on knife skills and food safety. The guests arrived, perhaps a little surprised to see such a young crew creating their meal. At the end of the night everyone in the kitchen knew that this was the start of something very special.
Over two years have passed since that very first dinner. The premise for the dinner stays the same. Every meal is based on the harvest from our gardens. We harvest the vegetables on the day we serve them, at the peak of nutrition. The meals are prepared and served by youth under the direction of Mr. McNeill, our dedicated Head Chef. Every volunteer who assists with the dinners spends time in the gardens helping to grow the food we serve. Katie’s Krops Dinners are truly garden to table.
Over the course of two years several things have changed. After overcoming several location changes we now serve our dinners at Summerville Baptist Church. The parishioners have welcomed us with open arms and embraced the belief that youth can end hunger one vegetable garden at a time. The number of guest we now serve has grown to an average of 100 per dinner. We never know just how many guests will join us. It is all part of the adventure.
We have an amazing core group of volunteers, our crew. My former 6th grade science teacher and our Head Chef lead our crew as we, in under two hours, prepare a healthy hot meal for 100 people. We have guests that have never missed a dinner. In fact the meals have become a wonderful social event, a way for families who are facing challenges to support one and other.
What have I learned over the two plus years that we have hosted our dinners? I have learned that you can eat healthy on a tight budget. Our dinners are not extravagant, they do not cost a great deal of money but they are healthy, hot and well balanced always including lots of fresh vegetables, protein and a starch. I have learned that no matter how young you are you can make a difference in this world. I have learned the joy that a hot meal can bring to an individual facing hunger. And I have learned how blessed I am to have amazing support from my community, my friends and their parents, my teachers, and my parents.
Our Top Tomato Tips
Our Top Tomato Tips
For our Spring and Summer crops, tomatoes are always favorite to grow in our Katie’s Krops’ gardens. Below, you will find great tips that will help you have a sucessful growing season in your garden.
Tomato Basics
- Soil should be well drained, high in organic matter, and have an optimum soil pH of 6.2 to 6.5.
- Planting times for Spring are March 25 – April 10 and for Fall are July 25 – 30. Optimum temperatures for planting are 70-80° F during the day and 60-70° F during the night.
- Tomato plants need 1-1.5 gallons per day, which is the equivalent of 1-1.5 inches of rain per week. Adequate moisture aids in the nutrient uptake of the plant. Soils rich in organic matter hold more water than soils that have not been amended.
- When fertilizing, apply Nitrogen monthly, because the plant uses it to make new foliage and fruit. When selecting a tomato plant, choose disease resistant varieties and purchase healthy transplants. If starting tomato plants from seed, use the recommended practices to avoid spindly growth and diseased seedlings.
There are two types of tomato plants – determinate and indeterminate.
- Determinate tomato plants grow, flower, set fruit, and die early in the season.
- Indeterminate tomato plants grow, flower, and produce fruit over a longer period. Most heirlooms are indeterminate. Indeterminate tomatoes must be staked and pruned.
Four amazing reasons to prune and stake your tomato plants.
- It will maximize the photosynthesis efficiency of the plant.
- It reduces disease.
- It redirects carbohydrates to the fruit and away from the foliage of the plant.
- Staking leads to earlier and larger fruiting. On indeterminate plants, staking will yield fruit 2-3 weeks earlier.
All of the above information is provided by the South Carolina Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service. For additional information on tomatoes, please visit the HGIC 1323 Tomato fact sheet at the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Home and Garden Information Center website at: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/vegetables/crops/hgic1323.html.
March Katie’s Krops St. Patrick’s Day Dinner
Please Join Us For Our
March Katie’s Krops St. Patrick’s Day Dinner
Thursday, March 28th
Dinner is served from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Summerville Baptist Church
417 Central Avenue in Summerville
The dinner is always healthy, hot, & FREE.
Due to an increase in the number of guests take-out meals are only available one per person for guests who are unable to dine between the hours of 6 – 7 p.m.
www.KatiesKrops.com – Katie @ KatiesKrops.com -327-3366
Clinton Global Initiative Katie Stagliano’s Accepts Her Award
Katie Stagliano in Elegant Living Magazine
Elegant Living Magazine recently wrote an article about Katie Stagliano, a 16-year-old philanthropist who runs a nonprofit organization called Katie’s Krops. Katie starts and maintains vegetable gardens and donates the food to help feed people in need. The article about Katie ended up on Bill Clinton‘s desk and he was so impressed with Katie, he decided to award her with the Clinton Global Citizen Award, sponsored by The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Katie was lucky to have Matt Damon present her with the prestigious award.
Congratulations to Katie Stagliano and to Elegant Living Magazine for writing about people who make a positive difference in the world!
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People Magazine Online – Katie Stagliano Feeds the Hungry Through Her Gardening Nonprofit
Katie Stagliano Feeds the Hungry Through Her Gardening Nonprofit
Katie Stagliano
ANDREW BRUSSO
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Subscribe for instant access to PEOPLE
Ever since she was a little girl, Katie Stagliano knew how to make things grow.
Four years ago, Katie planted the seedling for a 40-pound cabbage that would end up making meals for hundreds of hungry people in her Summerville, S.C., community.
Four years ago, Katie planted the seedling for a 40-pound cabbage that would end up making meals for hundreds of hungry people in her Summerville, S.C., community.
Now 14, she’s been growing and feeding people ever since, with her nonprofit Katie’s Krops that now seeds 55 kid-grown gardens in 21 states and produces thousands of pounds of vegetables.
In September, the cabbage that started her crusade landed the Pinewood Prep 8th grader in New York City – and in the company of President Bill Clinton, as one of six recipients of this year’s Clinton Global Citizen Awards. “He’s really into science,” says Katie. “He talked to me about photosynthesis.”
Katie works with groups addressing childhood health and nutrition issues and is part of an upcoming documentary Give Me Your Hungry. She’s also been featured on the Great American Country cable network’s Great American Heroes with Trace Adkins show.
“He’s a country boy,” says Katie of Adkins. “He makes fun of me and my mom for wearing gardening gloves.”
Her now-famous cabbage seedling that she planted in her family’s backyard made 275 meals (supplemented with ham and rice) at a homeless shelter in Katie’s community.
Says Katie, “I thought, ‘Wow, with one cabbage I helped feed that many people? I could do much more.’ ”
She started other gardens – in her subdivision, on donated land and on a field at school – seeded with donated plants and tended by school and community volunteers Katie recruited.
Those vegetables and volunteer networks have sprouted, feeding growing numbers of the needy. Her nonprofit, started in 2010, offers grants of garden center gift cards to fledgling gardeners ages 9-16 to start their own gardens, with a new grant application cycle that goes through Feb. 12. Katie hopes to eventually have gardens in all 50 states.
Katie is active in monthly suppers in Summerville, where kids cook vegetables from their gardens and feed anywhere from 50-150 people. A November dinner in a neighboring community transformed an elementary school into a restaurant for several hundred students and their families.
“A lot of these kids have never been to a real restaurant before and they’re not really eating as healthy as they should be,” she says.
Despite being thankful for the oversized vegetable that started it all, Katie offers a tiny admission: “I don’t really eat cabbage that much. I know I’m supposed to probably love it but it’s not one of my favorite vegetables,” she says. “But I mean, it’s not that bad.”
Announcing The Very First Katie’s Krops Camp!
We are thrilled to announce our very first Katie’s Krops Camp. This July fourteen Katie’s Krops Grantees will attend an all expenses paid 3 days camp in Pelion, South Carolina. This immersive experience will not only reward our grantees but will also teach them new growing practices, budgeting, how to photograph their gardens and so many other tools which will increase their productivity as well as the impact that they are having in their communities. The camp will also feature a Katie’s Krops Dinner where the campers will prepare a meal for families in need in Columbia, South Carolina. The camp will give our grantees the opportunity to get to know their peers, meet and work with the Founder of Katie’s Krops as well as meet a few surprise special guests.
The camp to be held July 16-18, 2013, at the headquarters of WP Rawl a sponsor of Katie’s Krops. Giving back to the community is important to the family-owned WP Rawl, and a partnership with Katie’s Krops was a perfect match. As such, for every bag of specially marked Nature’s Greens Kale and Collard Greens sold from October 2012 – January 2013, WP Rawl gave a percentage of sales to Katie’s Krops and provided funding for 15 grants in 2013, along with funding the camp.
“The first time I watched Katie speak, I knew I wanted to help her cause,” said Ashley Rawl, Director of Sales & Marketing for WP Rawl. “I started thinking of ways where we could help her empower other kids to do the same thing she is already doing. Katie’s Camp was born on that day and I am so pleased that we will be able to make it come to life.”
We at Katie’s Krops are so proud of all of our young growers across the country. To bring our grantees together is dream come true. We are excited to learn from them and further empower them to grow a healthy end to hunger in their communities.
The camp will be open to all current and new Katie’s Krops Grantees. Our current grant cycle, which is open to kids 9 to 16 and is sponsored by WP Rawl and Opal Apple is open until March 1st (please see the grant section of our website for an application). All new grantees that are selected during the current grant cycle will be eligible to apply to attend the camp.
Here is a sneak peek at our Katie’s Krops Camp Garden growing at W. P. Rawl Farm…
