What a great surprise it was to just learn that Holly Hirshberg, founder of the San Antonio-based Dinner Garden has just been named a CNN Hero. We met Holly this past Spring (and wrote about her and Dinner Garden here in the Diary on May 17, 2011) and were excited to learn about her efforts to end hunger in this country. Holly has proven that people can help feed themselves and others by growing their own fruits and vegetables. Dinner Garden has distributed seeds and gardening information to thousands of people across the country and also facilitated more than 150 community gardens. A recent Good People Fund grant allowed Holly to mail out almost 5000 packets of seeds to home gardeners in several states. Congratulations Holly!

With Holly’s recognition as the latest CNN Hero, she joins the ranks of several other Good People Fund programs which include Gary Oppenheimer from AmpleHarvest.org, Pam Koner, founder of Family to Family and Irene Zola, founder of our newest grantee, LILY-Lifeforce in Later Years.

Not a bad track record at all! We wonder who will be next.

Check out the CNN clip on Holly and her work: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/14/cnnheroes.hirshberg.seeds/