Young Farmers and Chefs of the Lowcountry
Gullah Cooking School
Overview of Marshview Programs
Gullah Farming and Gullah Cooking School
Home Cooked Meals Program
De Gullah Way Tutorial Program
The Family Backyard Garden Box Project
Gullah Theatrical Productions
Indigo Demonstration Project
Land Legacy Preservation
Housing Repair Program
Marshview Community Organic Farm, Inc. has a wide range of partners:
South Carolina Coastal Community Development Corporation Facilities rental of the commercial kitchen and storage, for the Home Cooked Meals Program and classrooms for De Gullah Way Tutorial Program
Gullah Grub Restaurant, LLC Caterer for the Home Cooked Meals, and Gullah Cooking School teachers
D&L Catering Home Cooked Meals, and De Gullah Way Tutorial Program dinner meals.
New Life Deliverance Temple Food Bank Ministry also helps to distribute our Home Cooked Meals to the elderly and family members with limited transportation.
Seeds, Soil & Culture Social / Finance Fund - Padma Lakshmi - Southeastern African American Farmers Organic Network - Lowcountry Community COVID-19 Response Fund - Unitarian Universalist Church of Beaufort - Eat Smart Move More SC - Friends of Dataw - Spring Island Community - Church of the Harvest - Jehovah Church of Christ - Beaufort Memorial Hospital - Girl Scout Troop 4105 - Kalliopeia - Wesley United Methodist Church - Billy Keyserling - R & B Catering - Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina - 24K Social Club - Penn Center, Inc. - Gullah Farmers Cooperative - Lowcountry Habitat for Humanity - DHEC - St. Helena Elementary School - Beaufort Alumane Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. - Nu Delta Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. - Tracy Lloyd McCarty, Esq.
Board Members:
Sara’ Reynolds Green (Co-Founder & CEO)
Lillie Harris (President)
Ralph Jackson (CFO)
David B. Reynolds
Deborah Martin
Maiden Afrika
Jayden Simmons (Young Farmers & Chef of the Lowcountry Representative)
Advisory Board Members:
David House
Tracy Lloyd McCarty, Esq.
Marilyn Harris
Dr. Faith Polkey
Dr. James Simmons
Dr. Saundra Renee Smith
Each of these programs provides local youth an opportunity to learn about organic farming, sustainable agriculture, healthy eating, and the local Gullah culture while building practical career experience, developing entrepreneurial skills, and promoting a pervasive spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy.
Awareness of Gullah culture has long been stifled!
We at Marshview recognize the importance of telling our story not only to future generations in our own community, but to share our history more broadly with the world. The Gullah Geechee people are a Gullah Geechee Nation, one of the oldest cultural groups still thriving as a “nation within a nation” today.
Help Us To Further Benefit Our Community
The farm serves as a conduit to promote the health and wellbeing to the youth and adults of the St. Helena Island community by:
Increasing the amount of organic farmland in production on Saint Helena Island.
Exploring the relationship between nutrition and health.
Creating a pathway for future young leaders to mentor others in the importance of protecting and preserving traditional Gullah cultural practices.
Teaching skills in the areas of sustainability, problem solving, constructive communication, team building and entrepreneurship.
Produce future farmers & chefs of the Lowcountry, equipped with the proper educational expertise and professional culinary art skills.
Sharing knowledge and experiences on the importance of being stewards of the land and leaders in our community.
Teach management skills, marketing, financial literacy and public speaking.
Family Backyard Garden Project
We have 15 families engaged in the Family Backyard Garden Project, using a 6x12 garden box, top soil, mushroom compost - they received seedlings of carrots, kale, collards, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, and spinach.
Indigo Project
Indigo Demonstration Project During 2021
Marshview has become a center for education on growing & harvesting indigo, establishing this initiative to show the process of making dye as well as showing ways to use indigo as an economic tool.
Home Cooked Meals Program
From 2020 to 2023, we have served an estimated 50,000 meals to date thus far.
In 2023, we served 16,895 meals and delivered 1,850 meals to the elderly.
Every year, our goal is to prepare, serve and distribute over 15,800 Home Cooked Meals to needy families in the community. We estimate 600 meals going towards the elderly, as well as personal pick up and delivery of 50 meals per week totaling 2,000 prepared meals from Beaufort Memorial Hospital. They prepare 250 meals per week for the senior citizens living in Beaufort, Burton & St. Helena Island, SC. To that aim, we hope to employ at least one additional delivery driver to further accomplish these goals in the future.
De Gullah Way Tutorial Program
Our Tutorial Program currently educates 30 students as an afterschool program from St. Helena Elementary School as well as a summer program, with three certified teachers, two assistant teachers, and are currently hiring for a program administrator.
Preservation of Gullah Culture & Traditions
Incorporating Gullah roots during Penn Center’s annual Heritage Days Celebration, The Road of Remembrance gives “A Praise House Experience”
Cast selection & auditions take place in September, planning & rehearsals take place in October leading up to the day of the performance in November
A Gullah Theatrical Production written by Sara’ Reynolds Green
Some of the preserved traditions shown here: praise dancing, throwing of a cast net by Bill Green