Gunshow’s Kevin Gillespie on partnering with Jackson Park Farm and mentoring students

According to the Atlanta Food Bank, one in six children in Georgia suffers from food insecurity. The local food infrastructure has only faced more challenges over the last two years due to the pandemic. In response, a new community garden now operates on the rooftop of Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School, sponsored by Center Parc Credit Union and created by the One Love Learning Foundation. They have also partnered with the award-winning restaurant Gunshow. The restaurant’s owner, former “Top Chef” contestant Kevin Gillespie, spoke with “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes earlier this fall about his commitment to helping students learn how to grow produce and tend the garden, while also bringing those skills forward into bright entrepreneurial futures.

Gillespie and his team at Gunshow became involved with the Jackson Park Farm after deciding to be more than just neighbors. “Gun Show is maybe a hundred yards from the school…. I walked over here, and I saw the space, but really, no one had done anything with it for quite some time,” said Gillespie. “We weren’t really sure how to kick it off.” After Gillespie’s first inspection, the plans sat dormant for some time, derailed by the COVID pandemic and other obstacles. But as his restaurant team regained their footing, Gillespie said that the pandemic, with its veil-lifting effect on structural frailties in the local economy, actually helped to inspire action.