The Garden

The 2000 census found that 12.4 percent of kids under the age of 18 in Jackson County live in poverty. Can you imagine what those numbers are today, ten years later? At Paragon Academy alone over 40 percent of its enrollees receive food assistance.

This summer wwKids' Journey is adopting two families from Paragon Academy for the gardening season.

Under the experienced leadership of Sarah Crane, the wwKids' Experience Studios have put in a vegetable garden. With a budget of $300, we expect to produce 2,000 pounds of food, valued at $3,000! We anticipate that we will be able to provide 2 families with fresh produce from mid-June to September.

The Garden is part of our summer wwKids' theme "Helping Hands Heal the World." Each week the kids will learn about justice, mercy, and serving others (Micah 6:8). In the Garden Studio they will learn how God created the earth to provide food for us, how we care for the earth and how we can use what we grow to help those who are in need. The world is big and kids may feel that their hands are too small to make a difference, but by tending the garden they will learn hoe to be Jesus' hands and help heal a corner of the world!