St. Pete Youth Farm celebrates four year anniversary

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The St. Pete Youth Farm celebrated four years of feeding the community's needs by offering resources for food gardens and teaching teens life skills along the way.

"Honestly, as I reflect on what today is about, today is not about four years. Today is more about the impact because you can have ten years and not have any impact," said Carla Bristol, the collaboration manager at St. Pete Youth Farm.

The St. Pete Youth Farm started as a pilot program in 2019 after grocery stores left the neighborhood and finding healthy food became harder.

"I moved to St. Petersburg in 1996, and in 1996, almost at any corner, you can pull in alleys starfruit. Citrus was abundant, fruit trees, and then at some point, all of that died out. So, it left everyone codependent on getting it from a store," said Bristol.

As a result, Bristol started pushing seeds into the community.

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"We’ve been giving out over 500 mini-gardens. We teach a monthly workshop on how to start your own garden, and that’s been successful," said Bristol.

She also shows leadership and life skills to teens from South St. Pete.

One garden that St. Pete Youth Farm helped create 

"I love planting because before I came here, my grandma was planting," said Kianna Chambers, a 16-year-old who is a part of the experience training program. "It has changed my life because the activities that she has for us each day, some of the things I learned from them made me look at things the way I used to differently."

Neighbors and families impacted by the program gathered Friday to celebrate the wins and the growth at the farm. 

At least 90 teens have been hired and trained in the program, and over 5,000 volunteers have participated in helping make healthy food more accessible across St. Pete, Bristol said.

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"It’s about the number of kids we have served, the number of kids that have been able to come through and visit and experience what we’re doing, and certainly the impact to the families that we support here at St. Pete Youth Farm," said Bristol. "Because if people grow food, guess what we know, they will help their neighbors. Neighbors become richer."

St. Pete Youth Farm also has something called "Mental Health Mondays." Bristol said she noticed a third of their teens coming to their program on baker acts for their mental health, so she said their work goes beyond food insecurity to talk about overall health.