Student-led organization provides fresh fruits and vegetables to communities in need

Volusia Giving Gardens hopes to engage more of the Volusia County community — including Ormond Beach — in its community garden initiative.

By Emma Brugna
| 4:50 p.m. August 24, 2023

Shea Bryan, of Ormond Beach, harvests collard greens to be donated to Hope Place homeless shelter. Courtesy photo

Earlier this year, members of Volusia Giving Gardens received two grants, one from United Way and one from Generation Impact. Pictured are Connor Wiles, Meghan Cahil, Ella Moore and Shea Bryan (back), and Randolyn Haylee, director of Community Impact at United Way (front.) Courtesy photo

Quinn Hemmerle, Ella Moore, Gavin Dain, Lana Jackson and Meghan Cahil donate produce to Hope Place homeless shelter. Courtesy photo

The first community garden established by Volusia Giving Garden is located at the Beacon Center. Courtesy photo

Connor Wiles, Shea Bryan, Lana Jackson, and Ella Moore present their new garden to be placed at the Port Orange Recreation Center at a Port Orange city center community event. Courtesy photo

Ormond Beach Observer
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Spruce Creek High School students and grads have established two community gardens and are working on their third.

Graduates Ella Moore and Lana Jackson and current senior Connor Wiles joined together two years ago to form Volusia Giving Gardens, building community gardens to distribute produce to people in need.

Moore, of Port Orange, said she hopes to mobilize more of the Volusia County community — including Ormond Beach — through the initiative.

“I want to be able to provide more access to healthy food to everyone in the community, not just those in underserved populations, and then also be able to bring in more than just our couple of students that we have now,” Moore said. “We want to be more active in the community and show gardening and its benefits.”

VGG started its garden initiative using grant money to provide pesticide-free produce in food deserts. The group has partnered with Generation Impact from the United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties, raising thousands of dollars for its projects, according to VGG. VGG aims to assist the local population that United Way designates as "ALICE" — "Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed" — helping people who have jobs but cannot afford fresh produce gain access to healthy food.

VGG board members Shea Bryan and Reid McComb also assist. Bryan, an Ormond resident and a senior at Spruce Creek, said she's passionate about environmental science and hopes to become a teacher.

Growing fresh fruit and vegetables for people without easy access to them has made an impact on her, she said.

“The whole goal is to not only help those who need it, but it’s also to mitigate climate change in kind of the best ability that we can,” Bryan said.

Other VGG volunteers help water, weed and maintain the gardens, plant the fruits and vegetables and build the garden beds.

The group works with shelters and community partners to create new gardens and donate the produce efficiently. The organization's first and most successful is at Beacon Center, a domestic violence shelter in Daytona Beach.

"They have first access to harvest, and then we'll also sometimes harvest and donate back to them," Bryan said.

The second garden is at the First Step Homeless Shelter, and the third garden will be at the Port Orange Recreation Center, where VGG hopes to place educational signs and interactive garden simulators and host monthly educational events for children in the community.