Members of the Columbus County Partnership for Children’s (CCPC) Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) are getting their hands dirty – literally.
In collaboration with local partners, CCPC’s PAC is reviving the community garden at Columbus Regional Hospital. Hands in soil, they’re pulling up weeds by the root, and there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“We’re bringing the community garden back to life because it’s been sitting unattended to for quite some time, and it’s in need of some TLC so that we can go ahead and start putting plants in the soil,” said Andrea Jacobs-Rofail, president of PAC.
The work includes clearing the garden beds of weeds, restoring one of the beds that is broken, and gathering supplies for the garden such as an awning for the beds, gloves, shovels, buckets and plants. The compost bin will need to be cleared of yard clippings.
Jacobs-Rofail hopes the project will improve access to fresh food, create a healthy living environment, develop and nurture social connections, educate the community’s children and reduce stress.
“The community garden will address health and wellbeing impacts in the community,” she said. “It’s educational; it’s teaching about harvesting and growing. It’s a part of STEM- the science, the technology, the math. We’re also taking a lot of stress off of families by lowering grocery costs by giving them a chance to grow their own fresh food.”
PAC also wants to gain visibility in the community and recruit new members to the committee as well as new volunteers to the garden.
The garden was started in 2016 by Jugta Kahai, MD, who is the pediatric medical director at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, with the initial goal of improving patient health by increasing accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables. Her vision has since expanded to include anyone in the community who may need them.
Having had no prior gardening experience herself, Kahai enlisted the help of Michael Shuman, extension technician of agriculture for the Columbus County Cooperative Extension.
Work on the garden reached a lull about two years ago, when it became too much work for Shuman, who also has a full-time career.
Wanting to revive the garden, Kahai also enlisted the help of the CCPC’s PAC and Columbus County Commissioner Barbara Featherson and her husband Jimmy Featherson.
PAC President Jacobs-Rofail is from a small Native American community and has been gardening all of her life.
“My ancestors have always practiced with plants and herbs,” she said. “We use, as Native Americans, use a lot from the earth for medicine, for healing, so this is not anything new to me. Growing up as a child, we didn’t have to go to the grocery store to buy produce; it was always grown in our back yard.”
Even with her wealth of knowledge, there’s always more to learn. That’s where Shuman comes in.
“Because his career is in agriculture, he’s able to dig deep,” Jacobs-Rofail said. “He was just standing there pointing out different weeds, their names and how they start to develop and grow.”
The Feathersons grow a garden every year, planting so much that they end up giving food away to other people, but even so, working with Shuman will be a learning experience for them, too.
“We don’t do organic gardening,” Commissioner Featherson said. “He puts fertilizer and sprays his garden, so this is going to be a lesson for us, as well, so that whenever we decide to try to go organic, we’ll glean something off of this as well.”
About CCPC’s Parent Advisory Committee
CCPC’s PAC is comprised of a group of Columbus County parents and guardians of children ages birth to 5, and local stakeholders. PAC strives to ensure inclusive, integrative and easy access to information, resources and training that parents and caregivers need to support the healthy growth, development and academic success of young children.
Anyone interested in joining PAC or volunteering in the community garden should contact Columbus County Partnership for Children at 910-642-8226.
About Columbus County Partnership for Children
For additional information about Columbus County Partnership for Children, call 910-642-8226. Visit the office at 109 W. Main St. in Whiteville or online at www.columbussmartstart.com. “Like” ColumbusSmartStart on Facebook.
