Beautification Edition - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2019

FACES OF DOWNTOWN
[MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
3 Kim Hines
CULTIVATING A COMMUNITY
Kim Hines is helping the
“Garden City” live up to its
nickname, particularly in one
of the city’s least-gardened
neighborhoods – Harrisburg.
The executive director of Augusta
Locally Grown, a nonprofit promoting
organic farming and sustainable agriculture,
is helping feed and unite residents in
the predominantly low-income neighborhood
by teaching them to grow their own
food.
“It’s community revitalization using
food as the tool,” Hines said.
The historic neighborhood west of
downtown primarily housed workingclass
families until the city’s textile
industry went into decline more than two
decades ago. The fabric of the community
began to fray as longtime residents began
to die off or move away, leaving behind
derelict homes, rental properties and littered
vacant lots.
Augusta Locally Grown, which was
founded in 2008, began making inroads
into the community in 2011 after Hines
received a call from St. Luke United
Methodist Church, one of Harrisburg’s
more civically active congregations.
“They said, ‘Can you make the same
clean food available for our families who
are struggling to make it on a more limited
income?’ “ Hines recalled. “I said, ‘I don’t
know, but I’d really like to try.’”
The result was a cluster of multi-partner
programs called GROW Harrisburg, short
for “Growing ouR Own Wellness.” One
of the group’s first alliances was with the
Icebox Urban Farm, a garden spanning
three city lots that was started by a local
couple on Fenwick Street to teach families
about sustainable food production.
Today, with grant funding assistance from
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program Education, or “SNAP-Ed,” the
urban garden now has a greenhouse, a
teaching kitchen and classroom and event
space.
Hines’ organization manages the teaching
garden for children at Harrisburg’s
Westabou Montessori School, as well as
nutrition-outreach efforts at the Olmstead
Homes public housing complex. Augusta
Locally Grown also offers a plant-based
cooking class at St. Luke and teaches
individuals to install and tend to backyard
gardens.
“The whole purpose is teaching each
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