Greetings from Project Worth Outreach in Menifee County, Kentucky. I am Alex Sanders, Site Supervisor, for the Grow Appalachia Garden Program.
William Mills
Gail Mills
Today, I would like to feature one of our Grow Appalachia garden families. They are William and Gail Mills. William and Gail are lifelong residents of Menifee County as well as lifelong gardeners. Gail is also the founder of Project Worth Outreach and the Director of our Grow Appalachia Garden Program . Gail started this organization in 1990 and has been helping the residents of Menifee County and surrounding areas ever since. William has been supportive of Gail’s efforts since the beginning and has always been there to help Gail with anything she needed. William and Gail Mills are very respected members of the community. I met Gail Mills about three and one-half years ago and everyone I speak to about William and Gail has very positive comments about them. When I met Gail Mills I was applying to become an AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteer at Project Worth Outreach. Gail struck me as a very intelligent and compassionate person. My impression of her has been proven correct over the years. Gail has a very large soft spot for the children of Menifee County. Gail cares about people in need more than anyone I have ever met. As, I see it, Gail Mills has a labor of love in educating and feeding the needy in Menifee County. Gail believes that through the Grow Appalachia Gardening Program she can educate and feed all generations at the same time. Once again, William is right there with her. He attends practically all functions of Project Worth Outreach and the Grow Appalachia Garden Program. Even before we became a part of the Grow Appalachia Garden Program family, Gail had already started helping the hungry in the county. Gail worked tirelessly to get funding to open up two greenhouses to grow plants to give to community members for their gardens. Gail has always worked hard to find funding for a food pantry and anyone who has had any dealings with a food pantry knows that this endeavor is always an uphill battle. Since we became part of the Grow Appalachia Garden Program family I have seen Gail and William work very hard to meet the needs of our garden participants. Gail handles all the seed orders and the packaging of individual gardeners seeds. William assists her in this task. Same with fertilizer, week killer and bug spray. They are a great team and they work well together. In addition, they have a rather large garden and what they harvest is preserved for themselves and others. They also share their fresh produce with friends, neighbors and community residents. The Mills believe the Grow Appalachia Garden Program has been a perfect fit for Menifee County. In the three years Project Worth Outreach has been part of Grow Appalachia Gardening we have had over 100 Menifee County families participate. We hear stories all the time from our gardeners about how much help the Grow Appalachia Garden Program has been to their families. Not only in terms of meeting the food needs but other aspects of their lives. To name a few of these would include the quality time spent together, the fellowship with community, the new friends they have met, and the potential of income from sales of produce just to name a few. So you see, William and Gail Mills have a huge impact on this community and I believe they will continue to do so for a long time to come especially with programs such as Grow Appalachia Gardening.
Hope everyone has people such as William and Gail Mills in their Grow Appalachia Garden Program. Let’s hope our garden sites dry out soon so we can get to the business of planting our gardens. Have a great week.
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