Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Donation to Appalachian Women’s Funds Hispanic Women’s Group Garden

The members of the Appalachian Women’s Fund hope that a little seed money will blossom into a great harvest for the Hispanic Women’s Group of Boone.
Funds from an anonymous donation to the Appalachian Women’s Fund and earmarked for the Hispanic Women’s Group garden project have been used to plant a garden at the County Agricultural Extension parking lot, and it is thriving.
Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, led by Amy Galloway, assisted the Hispanic Women’s Group in planning and planting the garden.

Through this gardening project, the women will be able to provide food for their families and serve as models to the wider Hispanic community. The garden is just one more way to help these women be self-sufficient and create a social change for their group.

But this donation is not just about a garden. It is a story about women in our area who saw a need and got involved. A spokesperson said, “Imagine living in a community where you do not know the language and your lifestyle is so different than everyone around you. It is like existing in a vacuum.”

In 1998, Sue Counts, County Extension director, offered a space to a group of women who were isolated because of culture and language barriers. They now meet every Wednesday at the Agricultural Conference Center to study English, enjoy fellowship, and support each other.

They all have children, and the little ones accompany their moms to the meeting. The children have painted lovely flowers on the bricks around the garden.
Mary Boyer, who teaches English to the group, said, “Gardening is always a risk, but people the world over continue to take that risk with surprisingly good results.”

A spokesperson for the Appalachian Women’s Fund said, “Every time we as a community lift up those less fortunate, we create a more compassionate world.”
For more information about the Hispanic Women’s Group, call Sue Counts at 828-963-5376.