Today, the Hawks teamed up with State Farm to host “Growing Places,” a gardening event to teach local youth about sustainability. Held at the Good Neighbor Club at Scott Recreation Center in New Hampshire, the event saw Hawks guard Garrison Matthews join students to learn how to plant, harvest and make refreshing smoothies with fresh produce, along with Kendall Rae Johnson, the youngest certified farmer in the state of Georgia.
“State Farm Good Neighbor Club and Hawks Community Courts are our second home where we can build community and provide educational opportunities and basketball programming for young people to learn, grow and thrive,” said John Babul, Hawks vice president of community impact and basketball programs. “Our youth development efforts go beyond basketball, as education is the foundation and catalyst for opportunity. The knowledge shared today about sustainable, healthy lifestyles will serve them a lifetime.”
Students joined Johnson and the Chattahoochee Nature Center for a panel discussion on sustainability and how gardening can benefit everyday life. After the panel, students worked with Chattahoochee Nature Center volunteers to plant tomato, beet and carrot seeds in a garden and learned about the life cycle of crops. At the next station, youth learned how to properly harvest food and were able to make a refreshing smoothie using crops with Johnson. Students also interacted with box turtles at another station and learned about how wildlife interacts with nature.
“State Farm's partnership with the Atlanta Hawks continues to positively impact students in metro Atlanta,” said Tanya James, Corporate Responsibility Manager for State Farm. “We're now partnering to provide students at N.H. Scott Recreation Center the opportunity to learn about gardening from experts like Kendall Ray Johnson and the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Students will help plant seeds in the community garden and learn about sustainable gardening practices. Supporting students in learning to garden deepens our commitment to impacting food insecurity while building safer, stronger and more educated communities.”
Hawks and State Farm worked together last week to prepare the garden for today's event and for continued use in the future. Volunteers from both organizations created new flower beds, planted flowers and installed a new shed and fence, which the youth were able to enjoy as part of the event. Students also helped decorate the garden by painting stones at today's event. Youth from the Scott Recreation Center Good Neighbor Club in New Hampshire can continue to practice the skills they learned at today's event and enjoy the fresh produce from the garden.
Hawks and State Farm have led multiple community-focused initiatives to better serve metro Atlanta. In January 2022, both organizations hosted a “Stock the Pantry Party” and opened a newly renovated and expanded “Good Neighbor Pantry” to support underserved seniors in the community. Hawks and State Farm also hosted the team's largest service initiative, the annual Million Meal Pack, packing more than one million meals for the Atlanta community.
To learn more about the Hawks’ community efforts, visit Hawks.com/Community.
