She planted her first garden more than two decades ago, when she was a preschool and daycare provider running a child development home in Sioux City, Iowa. “The children loved eating what they personally grew,” says La’Keshia. Her kids were able to share the experience (and the food!) with their families.​

​Now, La’Keshia is the family liaison at Rockford Environmental Science Academy (RESA) Middle School in Rockford, Ill., and she continues to make gardening a priority. Spring 2021 was the inaugural season for her garden club, the RESA Community Action Garden. ​

​“We have a beautiful space to work with,” La’Keshia says of the RESA Middle School’s campus. It offers the garden club the opportunity to keep growing in food and in impact. “It’s going to do more than produce food!”​

​According to La’Keshia, the RESA Community Action Garden will do three things. It will improve the economics of the community by donating a percentage of the garden’s harvest to local food pantries. As well it will increase socialization between the school, the students and their families. And finally, the garden will improve overall health. ​

But that’s not all—La’Keshia has more plans for the garden. She’s asked the students to contribute a family recipe to a digital cookbook to be distributed to the school community and beyond.​

​“This garden project has gotten more of a future than I initiated,” La’Keshia says with a laugh. Interest in the garden has allowed La’Keshia to turn her gardening club into a year-round project, with a greenhouse that will produce fruits and vegetables through the winter. ​​A strong advocate for volunteerism—having done so since she was a sophomore in high school—La’Keshia looks forward to giving the students, their families and community members the opportunity to give back and connect with each other during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.​

​“I think this garden is going to be a healthy and safe way to interact with people and to begin building positive relationships.” ​