South Carolina Teen Feeds the Homeless with Home Grown Veggies

Joe Cingrana/1010 WINS

18-year-old Katie Stagliano has been doing her part to feed the homeless in her South Carolina community for almost a decade.

It all got started back in 2008 when nine-year-old Katie decided to plant some cabbage in her family's Summerville, South Carolina backyard, which eventually sprouted into a whopping 40 lb cabbage. Katie chose to donate the vast veggie to a homeless shelter and returned that very week to help serve meals to those in need.

"I've never felt so good in my life," Stagliano told People magazine in 2009. "I thought, 'Wow, with one cabbage I helped feed that many people? I could do much more.'"

Since then Katie, now a high school senior, has supplied local soup kitchens with savory crops grown by her very own green thumb and even created the non-profit Katies Krops which has allowed her to supply over 22,000 pounds of locally grown produce to soup kitchens, food pantries and families in need.

The young Samaritan and budding philanthropist certainly doesn't plan to stay local, however. Thanks to grants from Katie, Katie's Krops Growers till and plough 100 Katie's Krops gardens in 33 states and have have donated an additional 53,000 pounds of produce to the needy in their own hometowns.

Katie's plans for the future include attending the College of Charleston and continuing her efforts with Katie's Krops.