Although Noah Minafo never imagined he would actually receive a national grant, the insightful teen knew exactly what to do once he got it.

Minafo held a special project April 17 at the Apex United Methodist Church Community Garden that emphasized the importance of helping those in need.

The 13-year-old organized four mini-workshops, recruited nearly 50 Apex UMC volunteers, and sought donations from local businesses as part of a $947 State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grant.

Attendees were given tips on how best to start and maintain a garden and they were also encouraged to share their homegrown produce with the Western Wake Crisis Ministry or a local food bank.

“The crisis ministry helps 30 families a day,” said Noah’s mom, Kim Minafo. “That number is growing because so many people have job issues right now. The idea is to point out that hunger doesn’t have a face; it could be your next door neighbor or anyone else. We are urging people to share with others.”

Minafo said her son wanted to hold the garden event after seeing firsthand how many local families are struggling to survive during the current economic downturn.

“(Apex UMC) recently donated 500 pounds of food to the food bank and Noah saw how many families were impacted,” said Kim. “My job also recently ended so we had to stretch things a little further at our house.

“I write grants and one day I was fiddling around and I spotted this State Farm grant. Noah told me he wanted to apply for it.”

The grant required a detailed plan of how the applicant would combine community service with teaching.

Noah quickly went to work on his plan to raise public awareness about hunger.

“He worked for days on it and had sketches all over my office at home,” said Kim. “Then he wrote up the plan and we sent it in. It was a national grant so I had no idea we’d get it.”

But two months later, the Lufkin Road Middle School student received the good news that he was chosen as a grant recipient. He quickly began recruiting volunteers and gathering supplies for his project.

Noah set up for different stations at the community garden that included information on composting, a short skit about hunger, gardening tips, and ways to help in the community.

“The great thing is that we saw a lot of the community out here,” said Kim. “It wasn’t just garden members from the church. We had people from different places, different churches and different schools.

“We also had a lot of youth involved. Of the 50 volunteers we had almost all of them were youth. That is wonderful.”

Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter and Ace Hardware helped make the event possible by donating supplies.

For more information on the Apex UMC garden visit www simplegiftsgarden .org