KILLEEN, Texas — On the north side of I-14 in Killeen many residents live in what's known as a food desert.
That's an area without nearby restaurants, grocery stores or places to easily buy food.
But some Killeen community members are trying to feed their neighbors through a new community garden. It allows whoever to take what they need, no questions asked. But, they also ask you to give what you can, like one Killeen native did.
At the corner of Atkinson Avenue and 18th Street near downtown Killeen, an abandoned lot is seeing new life.
Ramon Alvarez and his family owned the property. They decided to use it for something new, something better, something delicious.
"Obviously everybody talks about the food desert and the situation that there are nine grocery stores south of the highway and zero north of the highway," Alvarez said. "As someone who grew up here in north Killeen for 42 years, I feel that pain."
The Alvarez family decided to give the land to Killeen Creators -- a group who is turning the lot into a food source and gathering place.
"I love the mission that they're doing," Alvarez added. "I'm all about Killeen and downtown and north Killeen revitalization."
Kristin Wright, board chair of Killeen Creators, hopes it builds up and nourishes this community.
"We said we need to have some urban agriculture, we need to teach people how to grow their own food when they need to, and how to grow for other people when we can," she explained.
The garden will house a wide variety of produce depending on the season.
It's the third community garden in town. This one, like the others, made possible through donations and volunteer labor -- especially from members of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
"By doing a flip project that we're doing right now, it's going to help people persevere through the hardship that they may be encountering," Melvin Brown explained
Brown, the Finance Director of Omicron Pi Foundation who is also the former president of the Omega Phi Psi chapter in Killeen, along with other members of the fraternity spent Wednesday afternoon getting their hands dirty, building benches and storage units.
"The goal is to put these type gardens as as many communities as we can, to fulfill the gap of the grocery stores that left the area," Brown added.
Garden by garden, they're building a bridge for their neighbors so no one feels abandoned anymore.
The Killeen creators group is hoping to create more of these community gardens but they need your help. They're looking for monetary donations, volunteer gardeners and land.