Dakota County 11-Year-Old Gives Back
“SNAP-Ed through the Growing Together Nebraska project, coordinates two grant funded gardens, run by volunteers. Over 100 volunteers are engaged in this project each summer. A community member saw the Cooperative Learning Garden needed a new tiller. Because of SNAP-Ed community engagement, this volunteer was connected to this project and independently organized a fundraiser to raise funds. The fundraiser centered on painted rocks by local artists, where 10 artists painted 10 rocks, and were sold for $10.00 to raise money for a new tiller.
A young 11-year-old boy asked if he could paint a rock. He wanted to help raise funds to feed kids that are hungry. A young boy, who was once removed from his home for neglect, who once often did without, said “I know what it’s like to go to bed hungry, I know what it’s like to have my tummy hurt, because I had no food.” “I want to help, to make sure that no other kids ever have their tummy hurt because they had to go without food.” He painted a rock with a smiley face, with the words “Full Tummy Happy Heart”.
This young boy wanted to be a part of making a difference and help make sure no other children knew what it was like to go to bed hungry. His grandmother reached out to Nebraska Extension SNAP-Ed and said, “When I read this story about my grandson, I felt in in my soul, his suffering is now healing through giving back, what a beautiful cycle this has created from a horrible experience.” She went on to say that “healing has a ripple effect, and we pray that this is a tsunami for Dakota County.”
In Dakota County, Nebraska we could tell the story of 127,000 pounds of produce distributed in 10 years, or the volunteer and stakeholder engagement, that made that all possible. But there is not a statistical number big enough, that tells the story of SNAP-Ed engagement, community response, and overcoming food insecurity, better than that!“