Each year students from Shaler Area High School’s Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program helps their community grow—literally. The GATE program contacts the organizers of Etna’s community garden to see what they would like to grow in their community beds and then rolls up their sleeves to lend a hand. Students tend to the seedlings in the greenhouse at the high school until they are mature enough to be moved to the food bank beds at the garden. It is a collaborative endeavor, with some students planting and others pitching in for watering and maintenance—all to grow food that will feed their community through the good pantry.

Alice Gabriel, Etna Borough Councilwoman and Garden of Etna Food Pantry Bed Coordinator, shared, “In the face of all the issues in this world, the efforts and partnerships of people in this community, including you and your students, give me hope.”