Monroe County 4‑Her Hannah Crain has put her love of plants, agriculture, eating healthy, and helping her local community to practical use with her service project, “Plant It Forward.” Hannah received funding through a YES Grant from the Indiana 4‑H Foundation.
Hannah assembled 100 garden kits to hand out to guests at Pantry 279, a food pantry in Bloomington, Ind. Each kit included a grow bag, a bag of soil, plant food, an information sheet on how to grow the plant, either a tomato plant or pepper plant, and a tomato cage for the tomato plants.
“A short-term goal of Plant it Forward is to provide a steady supply of fresh healthy food options throughout the summer/growing months for the people in the community,” Hannah said. “The long-term goal of this project is to teach the community how to grow their own food and the health benefits that come with it. I hope to positively impact the community in a way that they will continue to grow their own produce for the next few years.”
Hannah, who plans to study agronomy in college, said that distributing the garden kits was an eye-opening experience.
“I interacted with people from all different backgrounds; some people were hesitant to take a garden kit because they had never gardened before, while others were extremely excited to get back into gardening this summer,” Hannah said. “My favorite part of my project was hearing people’s stories and seeing their faces light up as they talked about planting gardens with their parents or grandparents long ago. It was very touching to see their excitement.”
Each month, about 6,500 individuals in and around Monroe County receive assistance from Pantry 279.
Funding for the 2025 YES Grants program was provided by generous donations from Corteva AgriScience and Rural First by Farm Credit.