Goldie Feldman harvests against summer hunger

Students at Goldie Feldman Academy are accustomed to tending and snacking from their organic vegetable garden. 

On Thursday students shared their freshly harvested vegetables with All Faiths Food Bank as a show of support for the Campaign Against Summer Hunger. 

Gladly, students clipped leaves of romaine lettuce, plucked carrots from the dirt and snuck a few bites of fennel while they gathered food to be donated to St. Nathaniel's Episcopal Church in North Port the same day. 

Andrew Noune leads the agricultural science program at Goldie Feldman Academy and says it’s not uncommon for students to pick from their vegetables to snack on while out for recess. 

“They have [garden] beds that they are responsible for and tend to, so we put a moratorium on harvesting to save up for the donation,” Noune said. “It serves so many functions as a school garden.”

Among the crops being donated to the Sprout Mobile Farm Market to be delivered were kale, romaine lettuce, green beans, fennel, cucumbers, carrots and some sunflowers.

Ella Schaefer helped pick carrots and rinsed them off before being boxed to take to the Sprout Mobile Farm Market. She asked how the families that were on the receiving of the donations didn’t have food. 

“I feel great about this because we’re helping people and it’s healthy food we’re giving them,” Schaefer said. “I hope it helps.”