WYOMING, Mich. — Growing up, food was not necessarily an expectation for Rich and Julie Brunson. It was a privilege.
What they did have was hope. Now, the husband and wife are planting that hope into young West Michigan minds.
“This is for everybody," Julie said. "To know where your food comes from, how to grow food in a sustainable way that still protects the Earth, I really believe that can impact kids and their future and the life of adults as well.”
Julie was raised inside a busy home as the youngest of seven children.
"I had a beautiful childhood, you know," she said. "So, I always want to be respectful of my upbringing."
Her mom worked tirelessly to make sure all her children were fed. For a single mom, that was never an easy task.
Rich, on the other hand, lost his home as a teenager.
"Around 17, his mom had passed away from cancer," Julie explained. "He became homeless as a teenager and would be hungry.”
She added, "He got into a very hopeless place. Lost hope. That's when the word 'hope' came to him. H.O.P.E., the acronym — Helping Other People Eat.”
Decades later, the Brunsons are turning their childhood experience into education — planting seeds in the soil and in the classroom.
“It was [Rich's] passion," Julie said. "'Someday, I want to teach others to grow food so they have choices.' So they don't have to be where he was at where he didn't have the choice. You know, like, 'Where do I find food? How can I get my food?'"
According to Feeding America, one in eight people in West Michigan is food insecure. In 2015, H.O.P.E. Gardens became an official nonprofit to help change that statistic through education.
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They take their staff of 10 and travel to 15 different elementary and middle schools in West Michigan, 13 of which are in Wyoming.
That includes Parkview Elementary, where Julie herself went to school, and where FOX 17 visited for this story.
When we visited, H.O.P.E. Gardens taught a class of second graders about photosynthesis before taking them outside to plant peas.
Julie said the goal is to give these children the skills to harvest a healthy future for themselves and their families.
Natalie, one of the students in the class, said, "When I was little, I was a little picky kid ... I just ate what I wanted. So, I learned that I have to eat healthy because I don't want to be not healthy.”
That way, these young minds can take what they learn and eventually transform the communities in which they live.
“Everybody has to eat," Julie said. "Everybody needs to eat, and then we can do it together. I think it's just a beautiful thing.”
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