SARASOTA, Fla. — Members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties are addressing issues within their community like food insecurity.
Teenagers at the club started a garden to grow produce and fruit.
WATCH: Boys & Girls Club members start a garden to address food insecurity in Sarasota County
"It’s definitely very meaningful to me seeing food deserts in my community and those affected by those areas is definitely hard to see, but knowing that I'm making a change through this project is very important to me," said Lauren D.
Members said Dollar Tree and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America helped with the project.
"We had a lot of help from Dollar Tree and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. We were able to successfully start our garden and partner with local organizations like Harvest House and All Faiths Food Bank and we were actually able to help a lot especially in the Newtown area, donate some of the produce," said Samuel O.
Time and attention makes the garden flourish.
"We learned how to plant all the seeds and how to specifically harvest them, how to compost," said Sankalp M.
The teens at the Boys & Girls Clubs are passionate about issues impacting their community.
On Wednesday, the club hosted a Town Hall educating local leaders about topics important to them like food insecurity, affordable housing and disaster relief. Sarasota's Vice Mayor, Debbie Trice, listed to those concerns.
Another town hall will be held on Thursday with state leaders.
"I think this project was really just a good chance to show others, you know, we can actually make a change and impacting our communities whether that’s on a local level or on a state level," said Samuel O.
Club members said projects like this garden allow them to get involved within their community and provides them with a way to give back.
"This is something that’s an essential to life and being able to give to these kids who might not fully have a guarantee they’re going to have food that night is such a big thing," said Samuel O.
There are some truly inspiring people who call the Tampa Bay area home. People who overcome odds that others could not even imagine. Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain met a woman who is doing just that, as she competes at an international level after 2 life-saving lung transplants.
