GRADY COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) — Just five months ago, Hurricane Michael hit Florida and South Georgia, devastating many communities in its path.
A group of Cairo High School students saw a need in their community after Hurricane Michael. Now, Sunday night's storms have only reinforced how great that need really is.
These culinary arts students will be giving back long after they graduate. Their plan? To feed the Grady County community.
"A lot of our proposal actually focused on the tragedy of Hurricane Michael, and so hearing that today right after Sunday and the tornado, our town has been through so much," said Meredith Renaud, the student project lead.
The journey started even before the hurricane last October.
"Todd Gainous emailed me and Dr. Gilliard emailed me and told me about the competition and said, 'Hey this is a great idea!' We had already tossed around the idea of a food truck and how it would benefit our community," Whitney Brown, the students' culinary arts teacher, explained.
After Hurricane Michael hit in October, these students saw how much the community really needed food. The team learned that the poverty rate in Grady County is double the national average. One reason for that is a lack of career opportunities.
"A lot of the jobs, they're jobs, and not careers necessarily," said Renaud. "We were trying to open the doors so that people who, say you were an artist, if wanted to help do the design on the outside of food truck, that opens the doors into more careers that aren't just hour-to-hour jobs."
The Nourish Grady food truck may still be an idea on paper, but with the Ford Next Generation Learning grant, it's one step closer to being a reality.
Renaud said, "Just that little bit of hope proves that we are 'Grady Unbroken.'"
Although many students who applied for this grant are seniors, they are still excited to nourish Grady County with food, and real world experience.
The students have to come up with a budget and timeline for the food truck for the Board of Education and the Ford Next Generation Learning Program. If all goes according to plan, the Nourish Grady food truck will be operational by this fall.
