A lively crowd gathered Friday afternoon at 1961 Positive Way to celebrate after the 2nd Harvest Enhancement Project received a $50,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant to support youth programming and food-based education in San Juan County.
The award, secured through a collaboration among farmers and nonprofit leaders, will fund a new space to teach gardening, culinary skills and entrepreneurship while supporting local agriculture and improving access to nutritious food.
Organizers say the project will serve as a youth gathering place and a community resource, offering classes, hands-on training and opportunities for young people to grow, cook and sell produce.
Members of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce Redcoats attended the celebration, which featured music by KRWN Radio.
While getting creative with chalk art, 9-year-old Amelia Gathings summed up the event in one word – “fun.”
“We’re one of 25 out of 900 in the country that got this award,” said Kathy Price, who wrote the grant in December.
Karen Lupton, Farmington’s Main Street coordinator and economic development specialist, wrote a letter in support of the project.
“It’s always nice when you get these big corporate sponsors coming to Farmington,” said Megan Cullip, community health and social services director for San Juan County’s Health Care Assistance Program.
Cullip said the county is always looking for safe, engaging places for Farmington youths.
“We know that nutrition and outdoor activities in this community are very much needed,” she said, adding that combining youth resources with nutrition and food security is a “big deal.”
Addressing the crowd after the ribbon cutting, Shandi Edgar of Edgar Farms said the building will serve many purposes.
There will be free community classes offered through “generous donations and partnerships,” she said.
“We’re gonna have raised garden beds here,” Edgar said. “We’re gonna teach kids entrepreneurial skills, they’ll be able to grow and sell retail out of this building.”
Youths will also be supported as they sell at farmers markets and the Harvest Food Hub, learning leadership and “hands-on skills for life,” she said.
Edgar said she noticed farmers were left with “misfit” produce they could not resell.
“So I had the idea, let’s teach these kids in this commercial kitchen that the college has using misfit fruits and vegetables, soft culinary skills, so that the meals that they make we can give to people in need,” Edgar said.
“That’s why we are 2nd Harvest. We love misfits here,” she said.
The facility will host monthly events such as canning, pie and pasta making, basics of beef and building bat houses, Edgar said. A 2K run is also planned for later this year.
Jacqueline Montoya, kitchen manager for the Harvest Food Hub, said Edgar contacted her about a year ago to discuss creating a program that would teach youth farming and culinary skills. Montoya said she knew Selece Gathings of Gathings Gardens in Bloomfield shared a similar vision.
“And I thought, you know, these two ladies really need to connect, because they have great ideas,” Montoya said.
Montoya said the facility will include tower gardens, raised beds and tables for germinating seeds.
“They’re really going to be giving our youth some amazing tools to grow their lives,” she said.
As the fiscal agent, Selece Gathings said her nonprofit partnered with 2nd Harvest to apply for the grant. She said the funding resulted from collaboration “from start to finish” among Edgar, Montoya, Price and herself.
As associate director for San Juan County Partnership, Gathings said the facility will also support the organization’s Youth Coalition.
“We want to bring kids and youth here as a safe space to just hang out,” she said.
Marc Marquez, a T-Mobile senior manager based in Albuquerque, presented the check alongside Mars Racy, the local Sam’s Club T-Mobile store manager.
“Man, it’s absolutely amazing to be a part of this,” Marquez said. “I’m happy to be, you know, in something that’s investing into the youth.”
“We’re just looking forward to what they build for the community and the youth,” Racy said.