Kids grow their own food at VGCC Child Care Center

This summer, the young students at the Child Care Center on Vance-Granville Community College’s Main Campus in Vance County have learned numerous lessons about growing healthy food, following the installation of a raised vegetable garden on their playground. “We’ve planted several varieties of peppers and tomatoes as well as okra, squash, zucchini, rosemary and basil,” said Denise Gill, the child day care center director. “As part of this project, the children have done the planting, watering and harvesting.” Lakeeta Vaughan, the center’s cook, has prepared several of the vegetables for lunch and snacks, including zucchini bread. The soil and plants were donated by Michael and Bridget Waters, whose son, Ben, is enrolled at the center. The raised bed was constructed by students in the VGCC Carpentry program under the direction of program head/instructor Keith Tunstall. From left, Aiden Duke of Oxford, Ben Waters of Oxford, Dawson Wilkins of Henderson, Avery Satterwhite of Wake Forest, Caroline Fuller of Warrenton and Natalie Pennington of Oxford are seen checking out some of the homegrown vegetables recently harvested from the garden.