(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on "Carolina Impact".

- Across the country, and right here in South Carolina, people are living in food deserts with limited access to healthy foods.

I'm Rochelle Metzger, and coming up, we'll introduce a husband and wife working to change that in Rock Hill through urban farming, making their community healthier one head of lettuce at a time.

- Plus, after losing her son, one local mother turns her grief into support for families dealing with childhood cancer.

And a Charlotte Trainer uses social media to grow his business and help people get fit.

"Carolina Impact" starts right now.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music concludes) Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

Across our nation, and here in the Carolinas, people are living in food deserts, meaning they have little access to healthy food.

Carolina Impact's Rochelle Metzger and videographer, John Branscum, take us to South Carolina where urban farming is transforming Rock Hill.

One couple's work is making the community a healthier place.

(upbeat music) - [Rochelle] The upbeat, patriotic vibes and vibrant storefronts of Old Town Rock Hill are as welcoming as the banner signs that line Main Street.

It may feel like a slice of Americana, but this South Carolina city about 30 minutes south of Charlotte is booming with new development.

But if you leave the bustle of downtown and drive about a mile south, you'll notice a stark change.

The older, historically black neighborhoods that line Dave Lyle Boulevard have not seen the same investment.

- When you live in other cities and other places, there's places you can walk to and hang out at, or you can go and get coffee, but there's nothing on this side of town.

- [Rochelle] The city is working to change that with initiatives that direct resources into South Rock Hill.

The change is slow in this underserved community where the closest supermarket with a produce section is about a six-minute drive.

- I have grocery store within five, ten miles of me.

- [Rochelle] Kathy Stewart can drive to the store, but many of her neighbors don't have that luxury.

Nearly 92% of Rock Hill residents have no walkable access to a grocery store.

On the south side, roughly one in ten households don't have a car.

- There are more convenience stores, but not grocery stores.

And at convenience stores, you may not be able to get all of your fruits and vegetables.

- [Rochelle] Areas in which fresh options are difficult to access are called food deserts.

They can be found in more than 80% of South Carolina's counties, including York.

Crystal Nazeer and husband, Jonathan, founded Victory Gardens International, a Rock Hill nonprofit to fill that void.

- Our mission is to spearhead community redevelopment through urban farming, food production, food access, and job creation in historically marginalized communities.

- [Rochelle] Rows of gardening bins line an old tennis court on the grounds of Emmett Scott Community Center, which used to be an African American school.

The Nazeers converted the space into a neighborhood garden.

- There are a lot of statistics out about the impact of community gardens in low-income communities.

It lowers crime.

It gives opportunity for individuals to get outside and exercise.

We gotta shift everything-- - [Rochelle] Each bin belongs to a neighbor, like Kathy Stewart.

(birds singing) Come spring, they'll be brimming with fruits and vegetables, which saves her money.

- He also provides the opportunity for us to learn how to eat better.

- [Rochelle] Victory Gardens also runs a hydroponic greenhouse on the property.

- If you look at the top there, you'll see that's lemon balm at the very top.

We've got curly parsley, those are all chives that are going in there.

- [Rochelle] Nazeer says they started off with 50 aeroponic towers.

From seed to harvest, they produce about 1900 heads of leafy greens and bunched herbs a month.

I sampled the baby arugula.

- Once you eat it, wait for it.

- Oh wow!

(Jonathan laughs) The nutrient-dense leaves have a peppery kick that surprise your taste buds.

I love it!

- Yeah.

- I get-- - And it kind of creeps up on it.

- [Rochelle] Nazeer says The greens are harvested at their peak to get that robust flavor.

The Tower Garden has been so successful, they're expanding operations.

- We'll be growing inside of shipping containers and we'll be growing roughly about 3000 pounds of leafy greens a week.

- [Rochelle] Victory Gardens supplies several restaurants, local markets, and middle schools.

The Nazeers also have a store just on the street where you can buy their produce.

The proceeds support the nonprofit's various programs, which offer people a chance to develop skills through classes and events.

(chime tinkling) Located at 641 Crawford Road, the "Farmacy Community Farmstop" offers food from the garden and local farms, dairy, eggs from the chicken coop out back, and other trinkets.

The non-profit's youth workforce development program employs students like 14-year-old Calvary Smith.

- You work in the community, you make friendships, and it's also a Work First, where you work on skills that you are gonna learn in life, in the future.

- [Rochelle] The Farmacy has a number of community partners, including nearby Winthrop University.

- I am picking up produce for our free farmer's market that we offer to students and faculty on campus.

- [Rochelle] Looking ahead, the Nazeers would like to develop a partnership with the City of Rock Hill and eventually expand into other counties.

They also plan to grow their workforce development program to get more young people interested in urban farming.

- There're not very many farmers that look like Crystal and I.

And so our mission now is to really try to find those young BIPOC farmers and help them get started.

- We are a teaching and growing type of organization.

We wanna show you, give you the tools, give you the support to make you wanna go ahead and go home and do better.

- [Urban Farmer] This is my garden.

My cucumbers are just showing off.

- [Rochelle] Like that old saying, "If you teach people how to grow their own food today, they can feed their families for years to come."

For "Carolina Impact", I'm Rochelle Metzger.

- Thank you, Rochelle.

Nearly one in ten South Carolinians face food insecurity.

A statewide initiative called "Change SC" aims to improve food access and health outcomes through education and getting fresh produce into communities that need it.

Here's another example of community members feeding their neighbors.

There's a change happening in one East Charlotte neighborhood that could turn what's been described as a food desert into an urban Garden of Eden.

Almost seven acres in the Windsor Park area are being farmed by residents of Aldersgate Retirement Community and Carolina Farm Trust.

Windsor Park neighbors are also participating.

The concept could become an agriculture learning lab for CMS.

Nearby Windsor Park Elementary is already on board.

Carolina Impact's Bea Thompson and videographer, Max Arnall, tell us more about the seeds of progress - [Bea] Food.

It's what all organisms need to survive.

Yet for many people in cities across the nation, access to healthy vegetables and fruits is sketchy at best.

And non-existent for many.

It's why the Carolina Farm Trust is making the case for urban farmlands.

- So how do we build urban farms so people can understand why this land is so important?

Why is student nutrition so important?

How do we really look at workforce development and farm apprenticeship to get career tracks back into agriculture?

- [Bea] It's what prompted the Carolina Farm Trust to begin a partnership with the Aldersgate Retirement Community in East Charlotte back in 2017 on some property that had formerly housed tennis courts and buildings.

Its first hurdle?

Residents needed access to the garden site.

- Walkway came about as my father-in-Law passed.

So that is what's gonna give access to Aldersgate.

It's actually the bridge that connects the campus to the farm.

- I've been following the Carolina Farm Trust for many, many years.

And so we moved in here in 2019 and for me, this was one of the perks.

I can walk through the woods and get here.

- [Bea] For this healthcare professional, her biggest concern, sick patients who could not get the foods they needed.

- When you're telling someone that doesn't have the resources to eat fresh, eat healthy, you know, its...

The feedback is pretty consistent where it's just like, "I just can't afford it."

You know?

- [Bea] For the dietician, who cares for the health of some Aldersgates residents and other patients in the Windsor Park community, the garden is a game changer.

- It's tough.

A lot of them are wheelchair-bound, walker, so a lot of transportation is a big problem.

So it's more of the ability for me to come here, bring the produce to them, to our clinic.

- The goal and dream of this place is that all walks of life can come here.

That this is a space, a safe space, for anyone to find food.

But they can find healing, they can find community, they can find just nourishment and enrichment.

They can find care.

(saw whirring) - [Bea] For more than a year, Mariah Henry has led interns and volunteers in this revitalization effort.

This college graduate focused on culinary arts and farm production.

As she points out, it's going to take a shift in how people perceive the necessity of working farms in today's fast-paced culture.

- "Where is everybody?"

And more so, folks that do look like me, and not just from color but to age and to gender.

I can count on one hand just how many female farmers that I had met when I first started getting into just wanting to know more about agriculture was few far in between.

- [Bea] Now residents come to find out what's happening in the garden space and learning how they can fit in.

- Since moving to Aldersgate, I've started doing some work over in the greenhouse on campus, in the community garden that we have on campus, and got interested in growing fruits, mostly vegetables, right?

- Oh, it was interesting to me to see this thing was almost impossible, I thought.

And so I've watched it over the last few years as it's changed, and now we have all this going on and it's pretty impressive, really.

- [Bea] And there is an ultimate goal for the entire community.

- Intergenerational programming is just key.

You know, how do we get kids and adults and our seniors all together at one time to do something that's fun.

- [Bea] The Carolina Farm Trust has already begun its partnership with Windsor Park Elementary, with students planting seeds in small bed gardens on campus.

For the Aldersgate residents?

They are all in.

- Kind of helps me and help others see the productivity that happens where they can be involved.

I've got three residents now.

They're saying, "When can I go down?

I want to help."

- What I've noticed is, particularly at Aldersgate, is that we have a thriving community of gardeners, growers, people that have done this, people who grew up on farms and things.

- You know, when we come here, we're part of our community, but we are also part of the East Charlotte community.

And so we feel responsibility to be a greater part of that community.

- [Bea] And for the woman who wears the hat of head gardener, the mission is clear.

- And I think they will find that just beyond the crops that we grow, that we can really knock down these walls of what does it mean to have local access to food in your community.

- [Bea] So just as Spring brings up the best in nature, so it does for an East Side Garden of Eden, designed to not only nourish the people, but to bring them together.

For "Carolina Impact", I'm Bea Thompson.

- Thank you, Bea.

Aldersgate Urban Farm also plans to sell fresh produce to neighbors from a farm stand.

Well, up next, it's been over two years since Kathryn Martin's son, Johnathan, passed away to childhood cancer.

She's working to use her pain to help other families dealing with the same issue.

Carolina Impact's Dara Khalid and videographer, Russ Hunsinger, show us how her nonprofit "Melanated Melon" touches lives.

(clock ticking) - With each tick of the hand on her vintage pendulum clock, time moves forward.

(clock bells chiming) But for Kathryn Martin, it still feels like her world is stuck on the day she lost her son.

- Johnathan and I had a special bond and I don't...

I won't ever get that back.

(somber music) - [Dara] She vividly remembers her 15-year-old son's health declining, how he lost his appetite, energy to walk, and struggle with nausea.

- And he asked me to come over to the couch one morning.

He was like, "Mom, can you touch this?"

You know, can you?

And I touched it and it was all... Like, it felt like a rock in his stomach, like a pebble.

And I pushed on it.

He's like, it hurt him very much.

- [Dara] Kathryn tells me, after taking Johnathan to the hospital in July of 2021, their lives changed instantly.

- They gave me the worst news of my life, and they told me my son had a tumor in his liver.

From there, things happened pretty quickly.

He was diagnosed with NUT midline carcinoma, which is a very rare cancer.

(trunk opening) - [Dara] Doctors told the family he had six months to live, but he passed away in just three months.

- He fought all the way to the end.

He was just the pillar of strength through it all.

And that made me feel like I needed to be strong for him.

- [Dara] She not only needed to be strong for him, but also for her husband and their other children.

- You will not forget.

You will not disassociate.

Everything you do is motivated by the pain you have.

(gentle music) (puzzle pieces scattering) - [Dara] Piece by piece, just like the puzzle they're putting together.

The family brings their memories of Jonathan together to reflect on who he was.

- [Michael] John was always himself.

No matter what happened, he was gonna be himself.

He's gonna be his witty, clever self, but also common sense oriented, was just one of the things I truly appreciated about my son.

(Kathryn chuckling) - [Dara] Around their home, you'll see reminders of the young man who had big dreams.

From gifts given by the high school band he wanted to play his saxophone in to a painting from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he hoped to attend, his family preserves his legacy.

- There's a thing where you have a choice to make.

Do you sit down and do nothing and let it consume you?

Or do you use it?

(heat press beeps and clicks) - [Dara] For Kathryn, she's decided to use it.

- This is where the magic happens.

This is my craft room.

Where all my thinking and strategizing about the non-profit happens.

(sewing machine whirring) - [Dara] Stitch by stitch at her sewing machine, she uses the pain of her son's death to create fundraising products for a nonprofit, 'Melanated Melon".

- Our goal is to help families impacted by childhood cancer.

I noticed a gap in the community here in Fort Mill, that, you know, we didn't have a lot of-- You know, organizations to lean on.

(plastic crinkling) So this is our "Melanated Melon" bracelet.

We needed something right here in our own backyard with our own.

It's something that we can work into our hospitals here in South Carolina that helps families get through.

(sewing machine clicks) - [Dara] In December of 2021, Kathryn launched "Melanated Melon".

The name was inspired by a memory she shared with her son during his cancer battle.

- His head was completely bald at that time and I happened to be just pushing him in his wheelchair.

And I'm like, "Son, you have a perfectly round melanated melon."

And it stuck.

- [Dara] The nonprofit hosts several events throughout the year, like their "Be Johnathan Strong 5K Run Walk", and their "Sip & Swing", where the proceeds support families dealing with childhood cancer.

- I love it.

It gives me purpose.

It helped me with my grief journey.

It's still helping me with my grief journey.

- And the impact of Kathryn's nonprofit is being felt right here by 6-year-old Aubrey and her mom, Kara.

Pretty tasty!

(giggling) (arcade machine warbling) Aubrey Cerruti lights up just like any other kid playing one of her favorite action-packed video games.

For her, moments like this are a fun relief from her grueling cancer treatments.

- Just watching her be able to still be a kid when she has all this pain and, you know, tummy aches still come, the medicines still cause side effects.

- Mommy, what if I spill it?

- It's okay!

Then we clean it up!

- [Dara] In 2021, Aubrey was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, devastating news her family was not expecting.

- They sat me down and they said, "It's not the answer you wanted."

Because the original answer, as to what we thought, was maybe gonna be anemia, but it wasn't.

So cancer.

Big C. My kid, my baby, my everything.

I was broken.

I still am.

- [Dara] Kara tells me over the past few years she's watched her daughter go through immense pain, but somehow it hasn't taken Aubrey's smile away.

- Every day I feel joy in my heart from God and Jesus and they just tell me that I should feel happy and not mad or sad.

- [Dara] For Aubrey and her family, another reason they feel so much joy is because of Kathryn and how "Melanated Melon" supported them in their darkest moments.

- I love that girl!

And I love the story of Jonathan and her heart as a mama and as a wife.

All of it just really touched me and she just really touched me.

His story, her story, all of it.

We're in a club that nobody wants to be a part of, but we're in that club and we're gonna be there for each other.

- [Dara] For Kathryn, relationships like this mean the world because she gets to see the impact of her son's legacy and survivors like Aubrey.

For "Carolina Impact", I'm Dara Khalid.

- Thank you, Dara.

Kathryn excitedly shared with us the "Be Jonathan Strong 5K Walk" is expanding beyond the Charlotte Metro.

Another event will take place in Charleston this summer.

Well, finally tonight, back in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, if you needed a telephone number, what did you do?

You either called 4-1-1 to get information or you used the phone book.

The white pages for people's phone numbers, the yellow pages for businesses.

For decades, those were the only ways to get a number.

But the nineties brought us the internet and search engines.

However, these days, social media is how some are finding businesses, as Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis shows us one local fitness center has earned most of its clients through Instagram.

(upbeat energetic music) - [Zavis] Come on, let's go!

- [Jason] It's 8:00 AM Saturday morning.

- [Zavis] Where is my remote?

Y'all see me with the remote?

- [Jason] Safe to say most people are at home relaxing, morning Joe in hand, maybe even still in bed.

- Step!

Up!

Step.

- Okay.

- [Jason] Not at "Zay Fitness".

- Maya, why you doing push ups like that?

I taught you better than that.

See you left too long, so that's what you get!

- [Jason] Zavis Padgett works the room, encouraging everyone working out in his gym.

- There you go.

Good job!

All the way up!

All the way up!

- [Jason] With a giant Bluetooth speaker pumping out hip hop, Zay's classes are part CrossFit, part weightlifting, and part cardio.

50 seconds of intense workout, one minute of rest, repeat.

For an hour.

- Whoa!

Let's go y'all!

Go to the last one!

Last one!

Let's go y'all.

I enjoy helping people get in shape.

I've always been that type of person.

I like to help others.

That's always been my passion to always help others.

So when people come through the door, I try to treat 'em like family.

- [Jason] Charlotte born and bred, Zay graduated from Independence High School in 2006, where he was part of the Patriot's Public High School National Record of 109 straight football victories.

- Because I thought, "I'ma be an NFL player."

Like, we all thought.

I played football, I went to some of the camps, didn't make it.

Came home like, "Okay, now what?"

- [Jason] After college he took a job working at FedEx, which was fine, just not overly fulfilling.

- So he was working at night at FedEx and in the morning training clients, and I think he found his passion.

- I was afraid to quit.

'Cause I'm like, "I have, you know, a lot of security there."

And I was afraid, and I was just talking about it, I said, "You know what?

I'm gonna go out on it.

"I'm gonna trust God and go out on faith."

And that's what I did.

You should not be hiding your sister.

Get low.

There you go!

(client groaning) Oh naw, you want your hips right?

Come on, come on!

- [Jason] Opening his own gym, Zay has built up his clientele over the last few years.

Not through advertising but through social media.

- And I ran across his page on Instagram.

- So I saw how his workouts were and I'm like, "Oh, I think that's for me!"

- I saw him, he was local in the area, very affordable, judgment-free zone.

- When he came up, he had muscles.

"Oh!

He looks like he works out!"

And what drew me in was when I went to his Instagram page, I seen pictures of his family, his wife and his child.

And I was like, "He's a family man."

And that was just it for me.

- [Jason] It's not just that he's on social media.

It's what he's posting there that's drawing people's attention.

His social media presence.

- It's crazy.

(laughing) - [Jason] There's the one video with his son going over the various food groups.

- What is chicken?

- Protein.

- Good job.

What is rice?

- Carbs.

- What is green beans?

- A vegetable.

- Give me five, boy!

That's what I'm talking about, boy!

Let 'em know why you gonna be big and strong, right?

- Yes.

- [Jason] And the one that's causing quite a stir posted in November and viewed more than 2 million times talking about the negative aspect of his hometown growing so big so fast.

- If you are not from Charlotte, North Carolina, please stop moving here.

We have enough of you New Yorkers, you DC people, you Boston, all y'all northerners, stop moving here.

Y'all making our rent go up.

Y'all making everything go up.

We have traffic like Atlanta now.

Y'all need to stop moving.

Move to Atlanta!

Move to Houston!

Don't come to Charlotte.

I'm tired of this.

I should not, it should not take me 30 minutes to go five miles down the road.

Please, y'all.

So I stuck it on Instagram and it took off.

- [Jason] What'd you think when you saw that one?

- I was like, "Lord, Zay, you done took it too far."

I was like, "You done took it too far.

Oh my God!"

Like, and he was coming in, he was like, "They are eating me up in these comments."

And he was laughing about it and he just thought it was hilarious because he was like, "Look, these people are getting angry."

And I'm like... You know, but that's him, though.

That's him.

- I was really just playing.

- I shared it, I reposted it.

- But I think people took it the wrong way and like, it was like a dig, like with something personal towards them.

But it is never personal with him.

- I thought it was funny, you know, and he has some truth to it.

It is getting a little congested.

- But it's helping my business, though, 'cause now they come to my page, they see that I'm a trainer, they're like, "Oh, he seems like a nice-- "Oh, he's in Charlotte.

Oh my God!"

And they just been pouring in.

- [Jason] Zay insists he's not trying to create the next viral video and he doesn't really know the secret of doing it other than just being himself.

- Some people just give up when they're not getting likes.

I just kept posting and posting.

I said, "One day, one is gonna do what it needs to do."

And it took off and I was like, "Oh wow!"

- And I feel like most of his stuff that he plans doesn't always do as well as the stuff that's like random.

- [Jason] With nearly 50,000 Instagram followers, it should probably come as no surprise that Zay met his wife, Kyndle, through social media, a personal trainer, herself.

- We are doing a workout that will take you less than 20 minutes to do.

No equipment needed.

Straight cardio workout.

I was getting into my personal training business and things and I was following more fitness trainers and things like that.

And somehow, he stumbled onto my pages.

Someone I was following.

I ended up coming to one of his group sessions.

I had my hair straightened.

I had it up in a bun, and he's like, "Come on Man Bun, get it done!"

Like, he just... (laughing) Like, the stuff you're thinking, right?

"You look like you have a little man bun, girl."

- Eight!

- And it's that part - Seven!

- that keeps Zay's clients - Six!

- coming back.

- Five!

- His personality.

- Four!

- Just being him.

- Three!

I'm not trying to down you, I'm just telling you the truth about it.

I'm trying to help you.

- He's just real.

He just keeps it all the way.

What the cool kids call a hundred.

Like, he just keeps it all the way a hundred with you.

He's not gonna sugarcoat it.

You know, if he see you slacking, he gonna call you out for it.

- [Jason] And he's also known for following his clients on their social media.

- Don't let me find your Instagram.

I'll be in all your comments.

- [Jason] And if he sees something he doesn't like, he lets 'em know about it.

- He see you eating ice cream, he gonna call you out for it.

- If they post anything that I'm like, "Well, you out drinking, huh?

Oh really?"

and I just put a emoji in their face like, "Hm, interesting."

"Can't wait to see you on Monday."

(laughs) And they always like, "Oh my God!"

"I need to block you!"

- [Jason] Creating a thriving business in the 2020s and using social media - C'mon, y'all!

- as the main vehicle.

- Let's go!

For "Carolina Impact", - C'mon!

- I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- [Zavis] Let's go, ladies and gentlemen!

- Thanks, Jason.

Zavis holds workout classes pretty much every night of the week from 5-6 and 6-7.

You know, you're always learning new things when you watch "Carolina Impact".

Well, we'd love to learn about your interesting story ideas.

Please email us the details to stories@wtvi.org.

Well, that's all the time we have this evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you back here again next time on "Carolina Impact".

Goodnight, my friends.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (music concludes) (PBS theme music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.