Aggie Source Food Pantry Gets New Source for Fresh Food

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C.  (April 28, 2025) — The Aggie Source Food Pantry at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has acquired another “source” for fresh food this week with a new collaboration with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T and its community garden program.

Students and Extension specialists planted seeds in four newly built, raised garden beds outside the pantry building on campus. Those seeds will eventually provide fresh food and herbs for students as well as flowers for pollinators. The pantry provides food for students who face short-term food insecurity.

Extension and Aggie Source celebrated their collaboration April 22, Earth Day, with an event called  GrowChella — a play on “Coachella,” the California arts and music festival — that also featured food trucks, plant giveaways, music and information tables from university and community organizations.

Aggie Source coordinator Sherelle Wofford said the idea of installing the raised beds came from students who participate in Farm Fridays, an initiative in which students volunteer to maintain four raised beds at the University Farm, 3020 McConnell Road.

The food pantry coordinates Farm Fridays, which are open to all students, and receives produce from those beds, as well, said Morgan Malone, urban agriculture and community gardens coordinator at Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.

Having the raised beds on campus allows students who don’t have transportation to get a better feel for raising a garden. “They can see the food as it grows,” Wofford said.

The beds are planted according to specific themes, including a pizza bed, a pollinator bed, a tea bed and a salad bed.

“For students who aren't able to make it out to the farm, this kind of brings the farm to them,” Malone said.

“We’re really excited and just looking forward to how it can contribute to the Aggie community,” Wofford said.