The GRUB (Growing Recruits for Urban Business) Program at the South Plains Food Bank is designed to teach young adults, ages 14 to 21, life and job skills using our farm and community gardens as a backdrop to this education.

The Food Bank’s 5-acre Carolyn Lanier Youth Farm, located at 76th Street and Avenue B in Lubbock, is the primary work site for the GRUB program. Work includes garden planning, soil preparation, maintaining the irrigation system, planting seeds and young plants, nurturing, harvesting, and marketing the produce. As GRUB develops, the youth will produce and market a value-added product, giving them experience in marketing and small business operations. The program also provides classes on nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle.

The GRUB Program also offers employment to youth who have proved to be hard workers and are interested in a deeper connection to our program.

GRUB aims to develop the whole person with an educational component that includes topics such as horticulture, nutrition, money management and other life and job skills issues.The GRUB staff is committed to nurturing and educating the youth involved in our program. We welcome referrals of “at-risk” teens. A large portion of the labor involved in the GRUB Program comes from volunteers. Youth from schools, churches, civic groups, and clubs are encouraged to volunteer with us.

For more information about the GRUB program call Maxine Asmah at 763-3003, ext.35.