Funnelicious Teams up with Greenville Tech and Gardening for Good for New Community Garden

Funnelicious,  a specialty dessert deli and restaurant, has embarked on a campaign to build a community garden in the West End of Greenville.

Located on a 65 foot by 12 foot plot behind the restaurant’s 155 Augusta Street location, Mike Pennington, Funnelicious’s owner, said this is another way his company is giving back to the Greenville community.

“We are always looking for ways to grow our green footprint,” Pennington said. “Our five flower beds in the front of the restaurant have been a huge hit, so we wanted to expand from there.”

Pennington said he contacted City Councilwoman Gaye Sprague for advice on pursuing a community garden. She connected him with Greenville Forward and Gardening for Good, a network of local community gardens that utilizes of the energy of the community garden movement to coordinate neighborhood redevelopment efforts, improve the health of residents and neighborhoods, and transform Greenville through gardening.

Funnelicious then got support from Greenville Technical College, which sent staff and students to help lay out the early stages of the garden in March as part of its community outreach program, Pennington said. A funnel cake in the shape of the number 50 was baked for the occasion in honor of Greenville Tech’s anniversary.

In addition, rebar and railroad ties were donated by Lowe’s to serve as garden walls and landscape reinforcement. Fresh Start SC,  Economic Recovery Assistance contributed additional funds for heavy equipment rental and labor.

Together, this divergent group helped transform the grass hill behind the restaurant into the first stages of the garden. Pennington said he will spend the next few months preparing the plots and seeking community groups to take part in this project.

A community garden works when one group builds space for a garden. People in the community then pledge to take parts of it and harvest the food. Funnelicious will supply the water for the garden, but it is up to the participants to plant.

“We are looking forward to being something the entire community can be a part of,” he said.