Author: Advyon

Congratulations, Sarah the Katie’s Krops/AllyKatzz Grant Winner!!!

 I am very excited to announce the winner of the Katie’s Krops/AllyKatzz Grant, Sarah, from Virginia!  I loved Sarah’s application! I knew from the minute I read it we were so much alike. Sarah is very passionate and excited about gardening and giving back! In fact, Sarah was so excited that she didn’t wait to see if she was the winner of the grant to start her garden, she began shortly after she applied! Here is what Sarah wrote in her application, “I saw Katie on the news and Disney Channel. That inspired me to grow the vegetables I have in pots to something bigger. When Katie said “That a kid can do anything they put their minds to” that has made me what I am, a runner, a gardener and a helpful person to people.” I immediately knew I needed to make Sarah a member of the Katie’s Krops family.

 It was even more special to find out that Sarah wanted to come and meet ME at the AllyKatzz Year of the Youth Culmination Celebration at the United Nations! Sarah is the first grantee I have ever met in person. It was a very special day for me for many reasons but meeting Sarah made it even more exciting! I was able to award her the grant in person at the French Institute and she had a great time at the celebration as did I! We both walked away so inspired by the people we meet, the speeches we heard and the realization that we can change the world.

 Choosing a grantee is the most difficult part of the process. There are so many amazing girls out there who are passionate about this issue also. I always have trouble narrowing down the grantees as I did this time. I look forward to giving out more grants in the future.

 Thank you to everyone who applied for the Katie’s Krops/AllyKatzz Grant and a huge thank you to Miss Denise, Miss Carol, Monique and to Disney Friend for Change for allowing me to be part of an amazing event that truly inspired so many!

Every year we plant watermelon seeds in hopes of getting a big, juicy, delcious melon. Yet every year we still get no watermelons or fist size watermelons that die or crack from the heat. Well this year we got lucky! Out on Mr. Bob’s farm with my two little girl volunteers we planted some watermelon seeds donated to us from Ferry-Mores. Today we went up check the garden and there was a twenty pound watermelon right in front on our eyes. I was absolutely amazed that I grew that! Even though I have grown a freakishly large cabbage before I have never managed to grow a watermelon, but there is a first time for everything! Thank you to my two volunteers Reese and Georgia for their magical touch! I am proud to say that my watermelon,which weighed in at a whooping twenty pounds, was donated to Eagle Harbor Ranch. Eagle Harbor Ranch is a a home for abused, neglected or homeless children. I am very happy to have been able to help them.

Thank you Ferry-Morse for supplying the seeds to help feed people in need!

Planting our Ferry-Morse watermelon seeds!

My amazing volunteers Reese & Georgia!

 The end product! Beautiful!

I am excited to share with you my second guest blog from Ms. Shawna Babin’s Class. I am very happy and lucky to have Sydney, Greyson, Jared, Abbey, Nathan, Sophia, Shay, Thomas, Kate, Mitch, Abigail and Dreyton as my grantees.

Here is what two kids in her class wrote on their application, “Metro Athens is one of the poorest areas in the entire state of Georgia. There are a lot of homeless people in the city, and I want to be able to help them! I think they would really love to get home grown vegetables, I know I would!” and “I feel it is important to help people in need because they still deserve food even if they are poor. I also feel it helps the economy and community. I hear a lot about the bad economy and people are losing their jobs so I think to feed people who are in need is something we can all help do. When I went to Chicago on vacation last summer, I saw lots of homeless people who could not afford food. Sometimes I see people who can’t afford good clothes to keep them warm in the winter near where I live.”

After winning the grant my class was very excited about getting started.  We spend a lot of time planning and drawing out what we wanted our garden to look like in the space that we had at our school.  The soil condition at our school was really poor so we decided to build mostly raised gardens.  Our next step was to implement a school-wide composting project.  Our local Oconee Beautiful program donated three large compost bins.  Our goal was to make as much of our own soil as possible for our garden space.

Our next step was to go to Lowe’s to spend our grant money.  We took an exciting trip to Lowe’s, the students learned so much about planning ahead and all that was involved in starting a big project.

These pictures show the progression of the construction of our garden.  At the end of our project we built ten raised beds and developed a 15×30 foot tilled area with a fence trellis. We have our garden stock with numerous kinds of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, squash, green beans, peas, okra, zucchini, cucumbers, herbs, and onions.  We also have some fruits: strawberries, blueberries, and figs.

Our plan is to take care of our garden throughout the summer.  All of our produce will be given to Cornerstone Ministries.  This ministry feeds the homeless in our area a hot meal every Wednesday and Sunday.  The efforts of my class this year will touch the lives of many people in our area.  I cannot wait to watch our garden grow!!!!

I am very excited to share the very first guest blog from a Katie’s Krops Grantee. This garden was started by three very special children in a very special location, Kohen’s Park.  I would like to share what they wrote on their grant application. “In 2008, our brother Kohen went to Heaven. We wanted to bring some of the joy Kohen brought to our family to our community. In 2009, we built Kohen’s Park. The park is four acres with a pavilion, basketball court, playground area, sandbox, baseball field and soccer field. There is lots of room for a garden and this is where we would like to make one.  We know a lot of people who are in need. It’s sad to see them struggle to have enough food. Our family does a lot at Kohen’s Park to help people. The garden would help us to help them in a very important way. You are doing so much to help others. We would like to be a part of that too.”

It was an honor to provide Hunter, Canyon and Chance with a grant to start a garden to feed those in need in their community.  Here are their thoughts on the garden that they are growing in Kohen’s Park using kiddy pools. Thank you Hunter, Canyon and Chance!

March 2011

Hunter:     I like the garden because it can help people.  Not all people have enough food.

Canyon:  The gardens are looking really good.  I like the swimming pools.  People were really nice to give us the pools to use.  We put holes in the bottom.   They are different colors.  We spent a lot of time reading about gardens and planting on the computer before we did our shopping.

Chance:  Gardens are fun but a lot of work.  The planting is hard because you have to know how far in the soil to plant and you have to carry the bags of soil and stuff into the garden.   Then you have to mix the topsoil with the manure and put mulch on top to keep the water in the soil so the plants will grow.  We got really dirty but our family all worked together and got it all done.

April 2011

Hunter:  I like the new signs we put up.  There’s a sign for each thing we planted so we can remember what vegetable it is.  There’s also a sign that says that the money for the garden came from Katie’s Krops.  I like that other kids in the park come and help us water the gardens when they are there.  They like to help.

Canyon:  No weeds in the gardens.  I like the swimming pools because they really are easier to take care of than gardens planted in the ground.  We planted herbs this month.  The cabbage plants are starting to roll into a ball and the tomato plants have yellow flowers on them.

Chance:  Watering the gardens is a big responsibility.  Sometimes we use buckets and mix the miracle grow in the water.  Sometimes we use the water hose.  I don’t like the water hose because you have to keep it straight for the water to come out.