Charlottesville High School teacher maintains school garden, donates produce to community

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - While Charlottesville City Schools remain closed, one teacher at Charlottesville High School has been continuing his students’ work while being able to help feed people across the city.

Peter Davis has been teaching for more than a decade and has expanded the high school’s urban farming program. He and his family have been working to maintain the garden his students helped plant before schools closed in March.

"We've got all kinds of green crops growing, some carrots, potatoes, garlic, and we've got hundreds of tomatoes and peppers that are getting ready to go in the ground so we're still pushing forward," Davis said.

Davis says plenty of community members have offered their help, but he has had to turn them away to maintain social distancing guidelines. Before schools closed, students set a goal to donate 2,000 pounds of produce to the community.

Davis has been able to help maintain that goal by donating the produce through Cultivate Charlottesville, a nonprofit which helps provide healthy food throughout the city.

"There has always been an uncomfortable amount of food insecurity in Charlottesville and this health crisis has just kind of amplified that," Davis said.

Davis says he is looking forward to having his students back as soon as possible but is happy to help the community any way he can. “It’s very meaningful it’s been good for my family to have a structured time where we come in about four days a week and have a place to come and be active and be able to try to help people."

Cultivate Charlottesville will be doing a seedling giveaway at the Urban Agricultural Farm on May 7th.

For more information on the event, visit its Facebook page here.

Copyright 2020 WVIR. All rights reserved.