Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse Out To Nurture The Most Vulnerable In Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Building gardens to grow communities – it's the vision Lisa Freeman and Wallace Sapp had when they started Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse.
They began in 2011 by working with students at Manchester Elementary School who faced food insecurity.
"That garden was meant to be an outdoor learning space for our kids that didn't know that fresh vegetables came from the ground, that eggs came from chickens, said Freeman. "To give them an opportunity to nurture and care about something other than themselves."
Now they're creating an even bigger garden on Juniata Street in Pittsburgh. Volunteers gathered Saturday to set up and honor Sapp, who recently died from cancer.
"My husband, he was a jack-of-all-trades," said Freeman. "He loved the children of Manchester Elementary School. He mentored 270 kids every year for the last six years."
Freeman says they'll continue to carry on his legacy and support the most vulnerable through different collaborations.
"We're a job site in partnership with Evolve Inc. that is funded through the Labor and Industry and Office of Vocational Rehabilitation for people with disabilities, intellectual disabilities," said Freeman. "Give them an opportunity to become productive citizens."
Freeman says they're also giving back to families living in poverty and those under medical care. It is all fulfilling Sapp's lifelong mission.
"He had a million-dollar smile," said Freeman. "I could see his smile just as bright, and he would be so happy."
And sowing the seeds of hope so a once-struggling community can now flourish.
