Much More Than Just a School Garden Project: A Story of Community

The power that local communities have to cause change all over the world should never be underestimated. Communities have the ability to make businesses thrive, or die by simply choosing to support, or not support. Conversely, it seems that many communities today have lost their voice, and they have lost their connection with each other. For any community development project to last, it must first meet the needs of the surrounding communities. Projects must offer value and benefits that translate across and consider community environmental concerns, economic inequalities, and cultural ideologies in order to be sustainable and last. Mathews County is a rural farming community in South Eastern Virginia and has a population of roughly 8,800 residents. The purpose of this project was to address community issues by organizing and developing solutions that focused on the economic, social, and environmental pillars within.