NEIGHBORS
KRISTIN WRIGHT DREAMS OF GIVING KILLEEN
Room to Grow K
By FRED AFFLERBACH | Photos courtesy of KILLEEN CREATORS
ristin Wright has a dream. “My vision is there will be a community garden within walking distance of every citizen in Killeen.” Wright is the board of directors chair at Killeen Creators, a year-old nonprofit that is plowing fertile ground in a city where many neighborhoods have been deemed a food desert. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a food desert is an area where many residents both live in poverty and reside more than one mile from the closest large grocery store. And because low-income residents who live across town from stores such as H-E-B have scant access to public transportation, they often opt for buying food at convenience stores that sell mostly processed foods packaged in cans and cardboard boxes. Killeen Creators response to the food desert status is already making a difference. Two community gardens on the city’s north side are now under cultivation. Volunteers who don’t mind a little dirt under their fingernails till the ground, pull weeds, shovel dirt and come home with a basket of onions, tomatoes, carrots, or whatever’s in season. Wright says the experience is transformational. Sharing a garden with neighbors and strangers brings people together. “Growing your food is up there with creating a work of art, or raising children, or starting a business. It’s a very empowering thing for a community that’s been depressed, oppressed, disenfranchised and end up feeling pretty powerless,” Wright said. “When you start with a seed, and you show your child that together you grew a tomato that tastes so much better than anything that you can buy at the store, it’s incredibly uplifting.” The Killeen Creators concept sprouted from a Facebook Live interview last May featuring Killeen resident Kelly Flading. Flading had volunteered at a community garden in Seguin and witnessed firsthand the joy and love that grew from the activity. She said community gardens would benefit Killeen as well.
8 SUMMER 2021 | TEX APPEAL
Kristin Wright of Killeen Creators is working to end food deserts with community garden space. “The community gardens do a lot of things,” Flading said. “They decrease crime. They lighten up the area. They just bring joy. I think a lot of people who come to our workdays experience that, and that’s why they keep coming out. They can really get the feel of what it’s like to be part of community. And that’s what will make our city grow, to improve the quality of life here in Killeen. It shows that we have roots. It shows we nurture our neighborhoods.” Shortly after the Facebook Live interview aired, a local contractor, Louie Minor, donated the use of a vacant lot he owns on West Avenue J. Volunteers soon built about 20 raised beds, two with access for wheelchairs, and a shed for Continued
