Planting Seeds to Feed Kentucky’s Youth WP Rawl Supports Community Garden

Planting Seeds to Feed Kentucky’s Youth WP Rawl Supports Community Garden


Pelion, S.C. June 17, 2010 – Over the past several months, WP Rawl (Rawl) of Pelion, SC has partnered with the Rockin’ Appalachian Mom Project (RAMP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children and their families in Appalachia achieve a better life through nutrition, to lay the ground work for a community garden project in Inez, Ky.

The community garden will be part of the Homecoming Food Pantry, which RAMP helps fund, and is a resource to the local community to provide supplemental food 150+ families-in-need in this area. Rawl has been instrumental in the planning and development of the garden and has provided soil testing, prep work, an irrigation system and vegetable seeds and seedlings for the one-acre plot of land. The garden will include more than 12 different vegetables crops and is expected to yield over 7000 pounds of fresh vegetables for the community.

The garden project was underway on June 15, with a community work day that includes creating the garden space, installing a perimeter fence and irrigation system, garden planting, building a chicken coop, a community clean up and other activities including gardening workshops and healthy eating seminars. More than 80 volunteers from Rawl, RAMP and Whole Foods Market® were on location in Martin County, Ky, which is one of the poorest counties in the nation, to participate and assist in all events.

“Rawl has been the frontrunner on stepping up and helping the efforts of the Rockin’ Appalachian Mom Project in Martin County,” noted Amy Guerrieri, founder of RAMP. “Rawl’s support has been nothing short of fantastic and we are so thankful for all that they have done – from providing fresh produce to the food pantry during the holidays – to helping build this garden that will be instrumental in sustaining the local community.”

Ashley Rawl, Director of Sales & Marketing at Rawl commented, “Our company motto states, ‘our business is growing’, and what better way to live our values than to give back to communities by supporting a growing project like the RAMP community garden. Projects like these help develop sustainable communities that promote health and wellness along with food independence.”

The Rockin’ Appalachian Mom Project (RAMP) (www.rampamerica.org) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of poverty-stricken children and their families in the Appalachian region of the U.S. RAMP focuses on nutrition and basic needs, working family-to-family, Mom-to-Mom and kid-to-kid. RAMP also focuses on empowering moms and helps community members pay it forward.

Dating back to 1925, WP Rawl, is a third generation family farm which has grown to become a grower/shipper/processor, specializing in year round bulk and value-added leafy greens and vegetables in the RAWL Brand®, Nature’s Greens® and Versatile Veggies™ brands.