Our History

Kids Feeding Kids began in Richardson Middle School in Lake City, FL when John Cole, Jr. began teaching his students how to grow food to feed their families. It began with 50 potatoes and grew into the dream of creating an Agriculture Education Center to extend the reach of this teaching beyond the school and into the community.

The first planting was in the 2013-2014 school year and all seed potatoes, fertilizer and advice that were donated by Central States of Lake City. The potatoes were planted, cultivated, watered and taken care of by hand by the students using hoes and an old-fashioned hand plow. The food was grown on site in a garden site that the students cleared and tilled and an existing greenhouse.

Watching these students’ commitment and confidence as they grew food and took it home to help their families as part of the Backpack for Food program was life changing for John Cole. The gardening motto became:

“I CAN FEED MY FAMILY!”

In the beginning, there were two parts to the Kids Feeding Kids Project:

• Part One was producing food in the Columbia County School District for students to take home to their families and ultimately producing enough for student consumption through the district Food Service Department.

• Part Two was “Don’t Mow It, Grow It” which was based on the idea of taking all “non-essential grass” at the schools and using it as garden space to grow vegetables.

For more of the story from John Cole, Jr. himself, see this article by the Nutrients For Life Foundation. 

Now Kids Feeding Kids is a team led by John Cole’s son, John Littleton “Lit” Cole, and they are creating the Eco Agriculture Education Center and Helping Our Community with the activities funded by the Kids Feeding Kids Thrift Store and Fundraising Events. Check out “What We Do” for more about what Kids Feeding Kids is up to now.