Sophie Bernstein always wanted to grow her own vegetables, but her parents thought it would be a lot of work and feared she’d lose interest over time. “I proved them wrong,” she says.

The now-16-year-old St. Louis native has been doing so since her bat mitzvah—a traditional Jewish celebration of a girl’s 13th birthday, which often includes an element of service. Earlier, Sophie had visited a local food bank and was surprised and disappointed by the lack of fresh foods available to families in need—“the shelves were stacked with pretzels, chips, and cookies”—and so, sought to give back by improving community health. “I thought that by growing fresh produce and donating to the food bank, even one young person could make a difference.”

She started with a garden in her own backyard and used her bat mitzvah money to set up another garden at a local preschool. The kids’ response to seeing Sophie out working in the dirt? They watched carefully, and asked plenty of questions. So, with the help of the school, she got them involved. “Preschool children, especially, are eager to learn and try new things,” says Sophie. “The best way to reach out to kids and teach them about healthy eating is to have them plant, pick, and taste their own school garden’s fresh vegetables.”

Sophie Bernstein. | Photo courtesy of Sophie Bernstein

Two gardens became three, then four . . . and last year, Sophie received a Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award, designated for teens who have a positive influence within their communities. With help from its attendant cash prize, Sophie founded an organization, Go Healthy St. Louis, which has, to date, planted 22 gardens at low-income preschools, elementary schools, and shelters. “We’ve grown with the tremendous support of area youths who volunteer to help plant, maintain, and harvest crops,” explains Sophie. “We want to educate everyone involved on the importance of organic sustainable gardening—we try to teach youths to respect and improve the soils and focus on composting.”

Through presentations and demonstrations, Go Healthy St. Louis also highlights the importance of providing all families with fresh, organically grown fruits, berries, and vegetables, and using the renewable resources that nature provides, from rainwater to gravel. “Our gardens are a hands-on opportunity for children and their families,” says Sophie, adding that school plots, especially, offer unique opportunities to teach young people about making an environmental impact.

Asked to share a favorite memory in her five-year journey, Sophie recalls the day when she quizzed a group of four-year-olds at an inner-city preschool where tomatoes came from. “The entire class responded, ‘the grocery store,’” she says. Later in the season, she watched those kids pick tomatoes and taste produce from their own school garden. “That was an amazing sight.”