'It brings joy': Boys & Girls Clubs of Coastal Bend celebrate community garden to educate youth

If the children of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Bend had their way, the organization's new community garden would be covered in watermelon.

Asked to diversify their crops, the children settled on a wide selection, including a lemon tree, a pomegranate tree, tomatoes, radishes, peppers, cucumbers, corn and sunflowers.

"I really love it — that's for sure," said Naylin Banda, 11. "The thing that stands out to me is that we don't just grow vegetables here. We also grow herbs."

Banda especially likes two plants growing in the garden — beans, which remind her of the Mexican dishes she often eats with her family, and basil, which reminds her of herbs she's read about in books.

Club members of all ages participate in garden activities.

"It brings joy to the little kids, as well," Banda said.

The club received a $60,000 grant from Humana to support a community garden and healthy habits in the Coastal Bend, a chunk of the $1.5 million the company donated to clubs across the country. The new garden was celebrated with a grand opening event Thursday afternoon.

"What we're trying to do is teach (children) about vegetation and plants and soil and all this other stuff," club CEO Kim Barrientos said. "So we worked with the (Coastal Bend Food Bank) and their education and nutrition educators. Then we also partnered with Grow Local South Texas, who added an educational component."

Produce grown in the garden will trickle back to the Boys & Girls Club children through snacks at the club and fruits and vegetables sent home to families.

One goal of community gardens is fighting food insecurity.

According to Feeding America, there were 90,570 people facing food insecurity in the Coastal Bend in 2019. That includes 31,500 children. Projections indicate that in 2021, 7.3% of children in Nueces County had very low food security.

In a traditional community garden, community members can reserve a plot for their own growing activities. In Corpus Christi, the Garden of Grace at First United Methodist Church operates in this manner, offering more than 30 plots.

Garden of Grace is administered by Grow Local South Texas, and the group offers tips for gardeners at the site.

According to the American Community Garden Association, successful community gardens need a group of interested people, sponsors, plans for engaging children, organization and space.

In addition to the Humana funds, Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo offered $1,000 to the Boys & Girls Club garden from the Mayor's Community Gardens Restoration Program, funded by a donation from Reliant Energy.

Funds have been funneled to other local community gardens for the past year.

Community gardens can encourage participants to eat healthy fresh fruits and vegetables, engage in physical activity and revitalize communities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other community gardens, like the Boys & Girls Club garden, function more as educational spaces.

Grow Local South Texas spent the last school year visiting the club, as well as similar initiatives at West Side Helping Hand, the Garcia Center Community Garden and the Mary Grett Transition Center.

Grow Local South Texas operations and development coordinator Michelle Kish said twice-weekly lessons focused on organic gardening and soil science.

"It's great to introduce children to where their food comes from and how to build relationships with their food and healthy food," Kish said. "They've responded very well to it. They're always excited to go out to the garden, especially once it got established."

Composting and watering are especially popular, Kish said.

At the Boys & Girls Club garden, children decided on crops to fill a space that had been a garden years ago, but had been neglected. Gill Garden Center built the garden, with raised beds and garden tubs, to fit the children's designs.

During Thursday's grand opening, attendees decorated rocks to add to a well in the garden.

For refreshments, Boys & Girls Club teens made radish dip, pesto and a squash dish with produce from the garden.

Gathered in the garden Thursday, Alanya Vega, Aiden Rodriquez and Abel Garcia, all 13, pointed to sunflowers as their favorite part of the garden. They said they enjoy the garden.

"It's just fun," Garcia said.

Olivia Garrett reports on education and community news in South Texas. Contact her at olivia.garrett@caller.com. You can support local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times. 

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Bend celebrate community garden