May 11 – Prairie View A&M University’s CAHS student led-garden members step up once again in a time of need. After Laura Carson, Ph.D., a research scientist in the Cooperative Agriculture Research Center (CARC), received the campus announcement asking for donations for the Hilltop Reserve (an emergency resource center (ERC) designed to ease students’ financial worries when it comes to having access to food, clothing, and emergency funds), she immediately rounded up her team and got to work. “We had a few items from the garden that were ready to be harvested, and collectively we decided to donate to support our students who were still on campus,” Carson said. Together they were able to donate 12kg of 
carrots, 7kg of collards, and 1kg of lettuce. Carson later expressed gratitude toward her team, Debra Bradford, Andre Johnson, Jeneanne Kirven, and Rafash Brew, for dedicating time to harvest, wash and package the items. Late last year, the group was also instrumental in the effort to donate fresh produce after the Houston Food Bank was forced to throw out about 1.8 million pounds of food due to an ammonia leak that contaminated its refrigerated areas.
The Hilltop Reserve donation took place on April 20th & 24th, 2020.
By: Laura Carson
Research Scientist
lecarson@pvamu.edu