BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Coordinators from the Martin County Family Resource and Youth Service Centers launched their Planting Seeds of Hope program Monday outside the Inez Freewill Baptist Church gymnasium.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that the FRYSCs have provided the community with surplus garden supplies.

Kara Beth Marcum, Youth Service Center coordinator at Martin County High School, said local FRYSC coordinators created the program in 2020 in response to coronavirus-related school closures, which prevented traditional interactions with families. The program offered a creative way to interact directly with parents.

“We give them garden plants, seeds and flowers, and all the tools and soil to go with it,” Marcum said. “The families come and get it, then they go home and plant their gardens and send us pictures.”

Gardening gets students outdoors with their parents and grandparents, explained Marcum, “helping everyone get back to their roots.”

The program and the gardens have grown since their inception.

“Families now have huge gardens because they learned to do that,” said Marcum. “Moms and dads who never gardened before are gardening. There’s just a lot of good that has come out of it.”

Alongside Marcum, FRYSC coordinators Marlena Slone (Eden), Jennifer Alley (Martin County Middle), Andrea Muncy (Inez Elementary) and Amanda Stepp (Warfield Elementary) anticipated serving at least 60 families on Monday.