On October 9, 2024, Centralina hosted a Fall Celebration and Awards Ceremony at Atrium Ballpark in Kannapolis, NC. This event highlighted the work of our organization and member communities, in addition to several people and programs that have made an exceptional impact in our community over the last fiscal year.
The first Region of Excellence category awarded was Cross-Community Collaboration. These awards are given to those who demonstrate the value of partnerships across communities in order to achieve better outcomes.
About the Program
City of Gastonia’s Farm to Table – Cultivating Opportunity began as a social justice proposal for a Dominion Energy grant that would bring together three unique organizations in order to serve a single cause: reducing the barriers to healthy food through community collaboration. Keep Gastonia Beautiful, which is both a City of Gastonia-recognized department and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, received the grant from Dominion Energy for this project.
Approved in late 2022, work began right away for programming that would occur the following summer. Keep Gastonia Beautiful connected with the Gastonia Farmers Market and Healthy Highland/RAMS (Really Amazing Meals with Soul) Kitchen for what was thought to be fun summer programming for local youth. Instead, the program has entered classrooms, spread through the community and continues onward with plenty of momentum.
The project connects local farmers with a food-insecure community, educating citizens and local youth on the farm-to-table experience through various educational pieces. Each of the three agencies involved in Farm to Table- Cultivating Opportunity are highly invested in the future of the community, demonstrating discipline, commitment and perseverance – all of which are needed to sustain this long-term work within the community.
