MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — A local company is helping the community in a new and fresh way.
Everybody knows that fresh fruits and veggies taste so much better than when you buy them from one of the big chains, especially when they are grown locally.
Brittany Scott, an Administrator for Toyota Tennessee in Madison County, came up with an incredible idea.
I knew that the environmental department was gearing up for their budget for the next year,” Scott said. “So I was like, ‘What if? What if we, Toyota, sponsored and maintained a vegetable garden to donate to whoever needs it?’”
And that is exactly what they have been doing over the past few months. All of the produce has recently been going to RIFA‘s food kitchen and pantry. Scott tells us the different items that they have been growing.
“We are growing summer vegetables. We have eggplant, we have tomatoes, we have butternut squash, we have yellow squash, zucchini, more zucchini, peppers, herbs, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers,” Scott said.
“It goes to RIFA right now, but it is not just for RIFA,” Scott added. “That is just the one I know the most and it is right down the road. It is called the Toyota Tennessee Grow to Give Garden. So, just give.”
So far, around 450 pounds have been harvested — including two 12 pound squash that “Tiny” held. Tiny is the soup kitchen manager at RIFA and told us about how great this has been for them.
“It doesn’t just stay in the soup kitchen,” he said. “It goes all over RIFA and goes all out in the community. So, this little garden comes to RIFA and it gets distributed to a lot of people in multiple different forms.”
Recently, RIFA flash froze and packed up 12 bags of zucchini for the food pantry. It was all gone in four minutes.
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