For Stockton University senior Sadia Mahi, the term “food desert” isn’t just a textbook definition—it’s a daily reality. A lifelong Atlantic City resident, Mahi has spent years traveling outside city limits just to find fresh, halal groceries for her family.
“While we do have a lot of grocery stores here, sometimes it’s not always fresh food,” Mahi said.
Determined to change that narrative, Mahi and her fellow Engelberg Leadership Scholarship Program (ELSP) cohort members—Betsaida Viljoint and Dayanara Villenueva—launched Plant It Forward. The initiative, serving as their senior capstone project, aims to empower residents to combat food insecurity by growing their own produce at home.
On March 20—the first day of spring—the trio hosted a community event at Stockton’s Kesselman Hall. Partnering with local nonprofits C.R.O.P.S. (Communities Revolutionizing Open Public Spaces) and Coastal Cousins Heritage Gardens, the students provided residents with a hands-on introduction to urban gardening.
The event featured:
- Sustainability Lectures: Educating neighbors on the environmental and health benefits of local food.
- Interactive Planting: Attendees, including local children and seniors, planted beet and sprout seeds in biodegradable cups to take home.
- Seed Library Debut: A new community resource containing a variety of vegetable and herb seeds for public use.
“The main thing I wanted people to get from it is that there are resources they can use to address food insecurity,” Viljoint, a Liberal Studies major said. “By having an interactive activity with families, it’s easier for them to see that there are people who want to help.”
The impact of the event was immediately visible. Longtime resident Gina Roche, who has gardened in the city for years, noted her excitement about learning to grow sprouts during the off-season. “All the work that C.R.O.P.S. does is extremely inspiring to me,” Roche said. “It’s really cool to hang with young people.”
The project also represented a full-circle moment for Jorge Azcona, a 2019 Stockton alumnus and programming development coordinator for C.R.O.P.S. “My passion is community programming… seeing people who are actually passionate about helping the community is always very heartwarming,” Azcona remarked.
The Plant It Forward project is the culmination of the students’ journey in the Engelberg Leadership Scholarship Program. Established by a $1 million gift from Alfred Engelberg, the program provides a full ride for high-achieving students, allowing them to focus entirely on their studies and community leadership.
“This program had me focused on school and not on finances,” Viljoint shared. “As it’s coming to the end, it’s just a really good feeling because I got to do something for the community that I’ve lived in for the past 18-plus years.”
While the students graduate this May, their project will leave a lasting footprint. The seed library will remain at Kesselman Hall for several weeks before moving to its permanent home at Fisherman’s Park, where it will remain a free resource for all Atlantic City residents.
