An 11-year-old girl started out with an idea and a pack of seeds. With sunlight, water and relentless dedication, her backyard garden sprouted into an organization creating change throughout the Midwest. Armed with 750 volunteers and a $36,000 grant, CHS sophomore Sophie Bernstein is making exceptional progress in her pursuit to eliminate childhood hunger and obesity.

Bernstein planted her first garden in 2011 to donate the produce she grew to local food banks. She was inspired to bring healthier foods to local low-income families but did not yet have the means to expand her project.

“Once I visited the foodbank I realized they really didn’t have any healthy products, but I didn’t really have the funding to do anything,” Bernstein said.

Two years later, she used the money raised from her bat mitzvah project to continue her mission. Bernstein offered to build gardens for low-income preschools so that children could have access to fresh vegetables and learn about healthy foods.

“I realized that kids didn’t really know anything about gardening and healthy eating,” Bernstein said. “I was able to teach kids about the importance of healthy eating, how to garden, healthy recipes and also giving the food back to the foodbank.”

Bernstein’s project has been growing steadily over the past few years. As of now she has built 19 gardens and donated over 5,000 pounds of fresh produce.

She hasn’t done it alone. Using social media to spread the word, Bernstein has accumulated 750 volunteers who have helped her build gardens in Missouri, Indiana and New York.

“If you give the opportunities to people to give back, they’ll take it,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein insists that asking for help is a necessary step in accomplishing her goals of ending childhood obesity and hunger. Besides using social media to gather volunteers, Bernstein has been able to expand her organization by applying for grants.

She has been given a few smaller grants since 2013, but was recently named one of 15 recipients of the $36,000 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam award for Jewish teen leaders making a change in their community.

Although recipients may use the money for whatever they choose, Bernstein has decided to put all of the $36,000 back into her project, which she hopes will soon be categorized as a non-profit organization.  

Bernstein’s future goals are not focused on her own organization but on the broader issues behind it.

“I just want to be able to end child hunger and obesity,” Bernstein said. “The food banks really don’t have enough healthy products, and getting products in the food banks would be absolutely fantastic. My big goal would be getting healthier food into food banks and ending childhood hunger and obesity. A small goal at this point would be getting gardens in the midwest area.”

Bernstein’s next step in her plan is to start building gardens in Illinois. Managing such an ambitious project is no small feat for a high school student, but Bernstein is able to balance the responsibilities of running a successful organization with her schoolwork. Although she puts a lot of work into managing her project, Bernstein finds that the benefits outweigh the sacrifices.

“I enjoy it a lot, so it’s not really tedious work,” Bernstein said. “During the winter I’m able to plan and it’s just like you have to do work each night. Then in the summer is when it’s really fun when I don’t have school and I can just go outside and help build the gardens.”

Even with the help of hundreds of volunteers, Bernstein is still involved in every aspect of the organization. She created a curriculum to describe a step-by-step guide to building the gardens, but Bernstein tries to attend every event to lead the volunteers. Bernstein also takes the responsibility of maintaining most of the gardens and collecting the produce to take to the food banks.

Bernstein’s dedication to community service is a value that her entire family shares. With a father that serves in the Navy reserves and siblings that created Volunteen Nation, it is no surprise that Bernstein has actively pursued her goal of providing healthy foods to end childhood hunger and obesity.
“If you just ask or try to get involved it’s definitely an amazing thing,” Bernstein said. “I started with so little; I started with a pack of seeds and I really didn’t think it would go anywhere. l feel like if you go out there and try, doors will open and it will all work out.”