Katie's Krops

I’m ready to elevate my non-profit, Katie’s Krops! For the past twelve years, I’ve been working with incredible youth across the United States to end hunger, one vegetable garden at a time. This past May, I graduated from the College of Charleston and was able to fully commit myself to Katie’s Krops. I have been working hard to increase our efforts and maximize our impact. The Elevate Prize is the perfect way for me to garner the funding, support and connections to do just that. If I was selected as a winner, I would use the funding to bring additional people on to our team, to help us empower more youth to make an even bigger impact. I would utilize the connections to grow our footprint, both nationally and then move our work internationally. I would use this opportunity to learn from successful business men and women and entrepreneurs. I would also utilize experts to further educate our growers so they can significantly increase their knowledge and impact. With the support of the Elevate Prize, I am confident that Katie’s Krops would become a well known national name with an incredible team of youth behind us.

When I was nine years old, a cabbage seedling, three tiny green leaves changed my life forever. I planted my seedling in my backyard watched it grow until it reached 40 pounds! Every night before dinner my dad would always tell me how blessed we were to sit down to a healthy meal and how there were some families who weren’t as fortunate as us and relied on soup kitchens for what might be their only meal of the day. In May of 2008, my family and I brought my cabbage to Tri-County Family Ministries. My one cabbage helped to feed 275 people. After seeing how many people my one cabbage helped to feed, I thought about how many people can a garden feed? This led me down down a path of service with my not-for-profit organization, Katie’s Krops. For the past twelve years I have worked to end hunger, one vegetable garden at a time. In 2020, I graduated in 3 years from the College of Charleston and have now come back to work full time for Katie’s Krops. My goal is to expand Katie’s Krops nationwide and eventually internationally, to be a part of the solution to hunger.

Katie’s Krops is a national non-profit organization with a 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. Hunger and food insecurity is something that is extremely prevalent in the United States today. In 2020, 1 in 4 families experienced food insecurity along with the over 38 million Americans who were on food stamps in 2019. 

Katie’s Krops empowers youth to be the change in their communities. We give youth the tools to make a change in their community, be good stewards to the environment as well as learn responsibility and leadership by starting their own gardens and donating the produce. Along with our youth growers across the United States, Katie’s Krops also holds meal distributions to provide hot, healthy and free meals to those in need in the community. In the past ten years, Katie’s Krops has served over 35,000 meals. And since Katie’s Krops was founded in 2009, they have collectively donated over 400,000 lbs of produce to those struggling with hunger and food insecurity.

Katie’s Krops works to provide youth with the tools to grow a sustainable end to hunger one vegetable garden at a time. There are many programs that works to fight hunger, however these programs often don’t offer opportunities to youth, and if they do the opportunities aren’t sustainable. At Katie’s Krops, we offer funding and support to youth year after year to help them to continue to grow their gardens and support their communities. In addition, all of our programs are youth based. We believe in the power of youth and want to provide them with the tools to change the world. We believe in introducing children to agriculture at an early age and teaching them to care for the environment because they are the future farmers and philanthropists of our country and it is important to support them and empower them. Sometimes we need to get back to our roots to find the solutions we need to change the world. There are so many new and innovative way to garden and grow food, by allowing children to tap into these resources the possibilities are limitless! 

Katie's Krops is working to end hunger, one vegetable garden at a time. We provide the tools, funding, and support for youth to start vegetable gardens where the produce is donated to those in need. A private grower website tracks progress and impact as well as provides educational resources that are readily available to all. We have hosted a camp to bring youth together and educate them, reward them, as well as offering growers classes at our outdoor classroom in our flagship garden. Our growers are a family, a family who shares a passion about giving back. Youth witness first hand the difference they can make. It doesn't matter how young or how old you are, you can make an impact in the world. At Katie's Krops we are we are working to ensure those struggling with hunger and food insecurity have access to healthy fresh vegetables, but we are also working to ensure youth know the power they hold to change the world and those in need know that they are loved and supported no matter their circumstances. 

In 2020 Katie’s Krops had the honor and privilege of providing fresh, healthy produce and meals to 55,000 people. In addition, we empowered and offered educational opportunities to 1,225 youth. This number was a drastic decline due to COVID. We launched the Seeds of Change program during the pandemic to provide a positive outlet for families in quarantine to help feed their families and neighbors in need. This program engaged 1,432 people.

In 2021 we are on track to provide meals and fresh produce to 66,000 people and empower 4,650 youth to grow a healthy end hunger. In addition, with the addition of our outdoor classroom, which opens in February of 2021, we will further engage 1,320 youth in hands-on learning opportunities. We continued the Seeds of Change program in 2021 due to its popularity and have currently engaged in 1,200 in 2021.

As we look forward to 2022, our goal is to improve these numbers by 10 to 15 percent.

What if you could teach children at a young age to grow their own food, support their neighbors in need, learn to care for the environment so the earth will continue to provide. What if you taught children that they can make the world a better place, that they have a voice and the power to do so. That is what we are doing. Our goals align with UN Sustainable Development as we focus on Zero Hunger, Good Health & Well-Being, Quality Education, and Life on The Land. 

We track and measure our goals by amount of healthy fresh produce we collectively produce, the number of youths we empower via volunteer, service and educational opportunities. Many of these children have never had the opportunity to volunteer or have been the recipient of our services and want to give back. We track the number of garden-to-table meals we serve and the number of people who attend our educational programs. 

All of our gardens are sustainable. We are working to expand our educational component to help young Growers increase their yield. Youth are encouraged to expand their efforts as they improve their skills and knowledge.

We are facing barriers with funding and staffing. We have a tremendous plans to expand and engage even more youth, both nationally and internationally. There are an incredibly large number of youth who have reached out and are incredibly passionate about fighting to end hunger in their communities across the United States and across the world. Currently, we have a staff of two paid individuals and a core group of volunteers. To expand and elevate our work to the next level, empowering more youth, provide more educational opportunities and make an even bigger dent in the fight against hunger we need to hire additional staffing, as well as needing the additional funds. We could engage thousands more youth and provide hundreds of thousands of pounds of produce to those in need across the United States.

At Katie's Krops, we are doing much more than just fighting hunger. We are empowering the future leaders and philanthropists of our country, we are helping to ensure that children and families receive the healthy foods they need to prevent diseases and obesity, to do well in school and receive proper nutrition. There are communities across the country that we have wanted to start a Katie's Krops garden in because we know how great the need is, but we have been unable to find anyone from those communities to be a grower. Brand recognition and a larger audience will help us break into the communities that need our help the most and make a bigger impact. It will also help to empower and inspire more youth, and show them the amazing impact they can make in their own backyard. A bigger audience will mean we can have Katie's Krops gardens growing across the country and then achieve our dream of expanding internationally. The possibilities are limitless and with your help, I know that we will reach those who need our help the most and continue to inspire the next generation.

At Katie's Krops, we recognize that the issue of hunger doesn't have one solution. There are many moving parts and contributing factors. This means that as we approach the issue and try to solve it, it is vital that we come at it from all angles.We have a youth advisory board, comprised of several youth growers who offer their perspectives and help shape the direction of Katie's Krops. We currently only have two employees, but our goal is to expand and add additional employees, who are both representative of the population that we serve and bring new and different skills to the table. We realize that we do not have all of the answers, and that is why it is our goal to bring on new members of our team who can help us to continue to be educated and grow. We also recognize the importance of helping youth become leaders from a young age, and for that reason we work incredibly hard to provide leadership opportunities for youth. We pride ourselves on not asking questions as to why someone is in need, but instead being there for them, being empathetic and ready to listen if they chose to share. 

With twelve plus years of experience, we have gained the knowledge to empower youth to grow a sustainable solution to food insecurity. For most of my life, 9 to 22, I have tackled this problem and have surrounded myself with people who can guide and educate me. For over a decade, the people we serve at Katie's Krops, the individuals who grow with us, have become my second family. Every aspect of my life has been dedicated to cultivating a sustainable solution to hunger. I obtained a degree in Leadership, Change & Social Responsibility in 2020 to further my expertise.

Our board to made up of a Master Gardener, a financial expert, a Katie's Krops Grower, a professional Grower, and a non-profit professional.  We also have had a youth advisory board to guide and support our organization.  Everything we do, from what we grow, how to distribute, and where our gardens are located, is based on the needs of the communities we serve. A large part of my week is connecting with those we serve to learn their needs, concerns, worries, and challenges. Our Growers are empowered to investigate and determine where the need is in their community. 

At 11, the local soup kitchen I had been donating to shut their doors. This was a moment that changed Katie's Krops forever. I decided that in the face of what could be a massive setback for us, that I would instead work to create meals for those who no longer had a soup kitchen to rely on. This is how the Katie’s Krops Dinners were born. I utilized the vegetables from my garden, purchasing whatever I couldn’t grow and gathered friends and the head of food services at my school to prepare the meal. I found a local church who let us use their kitchen and fellowship hall to prepare the meals in. We would prepare 150-250 meals for anyone in need, no questions asked. When the pandemic hit, we could no longer have 150-250 individuals gathered in a room together so I knew it was once again time to switch up the model. We moved from sit down meals to a drive through meal distribution. We grew with the need and went from preparing 250 meals once a month to 600 meals every week. In 2020, we served over 18,000 hot, healthy and free meals.

I am featured in the documentary The Starfish Throwers: https://vimeo.com/73092552

I have done 65 public speeches, including speaking at the Clinton Presidential Library and at the Clinton Global Initative where I received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for Leadership in Civil Society.

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https://www.live5news.com/2020/05/08/lowcountry-strong-woman-feeding-hundreds-with-homegrown-crops/

https://abcnews4.com/news/local/katies-krops-to-open-first-outdoor-classroom-to-educate-community-through-gardens

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Katie’s Krops has been my dream, my passion since I was nine years old. With a college degree and the pandemic behind us, I am eager and excited to propel Katie’s Krops to the next level. As I take this next step, I need to find the powerful mentorship, funding, networking, support, and community to elevate my efforts. With all my heart, I hope The Elevate Prize will help me make irreplaceable connections to further my education as a leader, further my work with my non-profit, and take it to the next level. The next level includes an increased educational component, expanded staffing, and developing our efforts both nationally and internationally.

I have witnessed firsthand the power of youth. When you believe in children, when you empower them, they can and will change the world. I hope that the Elevate Prize committee believes that children are the best investment we can make in this world as passionately as I do. The Elevate Prize would enable Katie’s Krops to change lives, empower youth and educate future farmers and philanthropists of the world. I am proof positive when a child is empowered and believed in they can change the world, they will.

At Katie's Krops, we partner with hundreds of organizations across the United States to ensure that individuals and families struggling with hunger and food insecurity have access to healthy fresh produce. We partner with schools, boys and girls clubs, churches, food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, community centers and local libraries across the country. These organizations help our youth growers to distribute the produce they have grown to those who need it most and are used as a line of communication between our growers and the recipients of the produce. We work closely  with Youth Service America, Meals on Wheels, Sodexo, the fresh produce and agricultural industry, military members and their families and the United Way. These organizations have supported us be providing us with volunteers, funding, expertise, in-kind donations and educational opportunities. These relationships are invaluable and help us continue to grow and expand.