Katie’s Krops founder named a Southerner of the Year, produces record yield for the hungry

The Lowcountry has a Southerner of the Year in its backyard.

“Southern Living” named Katie Stagliano, who lives in downtown Charleston, one of its five Southern “trailblazers” making a difference in preserving history and culture, protecting the natural world, inspiring new generations of people into selfless service and providing food to those in need.

Stagliano checks two of those boxes with ease. She runs the nonprofit Katie’s Krops that operates a network of 100 community and backyard gardens in 33 states that range from a couple of raised beds to two acres.

Together, the network grew and donated 680,000 pounds of food to those people struggling with food insecurity since Stagliano first grew a 40-pound cabbage in 2008.

Those gardens happen because of the young people, mostly ages 7 to 16, inspired by her story of a 9-year-old girl turning a third grade project cabbage seedling at Pinewood Preparatory School into a meal for more than 200 people.

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