WYOMING, Mich. — There’s a nonprofit organization with a specific mission and it’s helping other people eat. That’s why it’s called H.O.P.E. Gardens.
Julie Brunson is the founder and executive director and told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “All kids, I don’t care your socioeconomic state, I think every kid deserves to learn how to grow food. Everybody eats.”
Giving back to her roots, Brunson operates H.O.P.E. Gardens in schools throughout the city of Wyoming, where she was born and raised.
“It’s real important that people have access to affordable food and if you can grow locally and in your own backyard or in a community garden, it can really save a family money,” said Brunson as she pointed out that, “Buying fresh, local – let’s say organic produce – or any produce is expensive.”
Now, she’s helping other people eat by teaching our youth how to grow their own food.
“What could it look like if neighbors started growing food, sharing food, apartment complexes started allowing their residents to grow food and share food among each other in the community,” said Brunson.
Holly Smith introduced herself saying, “I retired from education after 40 years and people say do your hobby. Well, I realized teaching is my hobby.”
She’s now the lead teacher with H.O.P.E. Gardens. Our crew was there the day she led Oriole Park fourth graders in a lesson on sunflower seeds. The lesson was followed by a seed salad, which included popcorn, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds.
9-year-old Zayden Morrison is a fourth grader at Oriole Park Elementary. He said, “I really liked the popcorn and the pumpkin seeds.”
Synaii Galaviz, another 9-year-old fourth grader in the class said, “It was really good and it’s cool to see how like where they come from and everything.”
“I didn’t like the cranberries,” Morrison.
Smith explained, “They learned that when they save that seed from a plant that maybe they started and grew and then it dried and went to seed, they can take that seed and replant it and the cycle goes on and on.”
“They want to try what they grew, and they’ll be eating raw garlic, scapes hanging from their mouths. They’ll eat things that you will not be able to get them to eat at home,” said Brunson.
While sitting in the school garden, Galaviz said, “I like it because it teaches how to be healthy.”
“Helps them to see, now I can be a food grower, I can have a garden, I can encourage my family to have a garden. We can all grow food. Everybody can,” said Smith.
“It’s encouraging healthy eating but also giving them the power to feel like, hey, I did something. Like, I grew this plant, and they get real proud, ‘this is my garden,’” Brunson said, laughing.
You can see from the mounds of snow in the video that this program operates year-round.
There were 2,700 students involved in the program for the last calendar year.
H.O.P.E. Gardens is currently in 13 schools, mostly in the city of Wyoming. This includes Wyoming Public Schools, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, Godwin Heights Public Schools, and one school in Grandville.
The schools do not pay for this program. H.O.P.E. Gardens relies on grants, donations and proceeds from their plant sales.
H.O.P.E. Garden’s SNAP-Ed programming was made possible with funding from Michigan Fitness Foundation, a State Implementing Agency of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the education component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP-Ed is an education program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that teaches people eligible for SNAP how to live healthier lives. Michigan Fitness Foundation offers grants to conduct SNAP-Ed programming in Michigan.