Jasper Mom Win's $5,000 ''Veggie'' Grant

Kelly Stephens from Jasper, TN is one of 10 national winners in the Love Your Veggies^TM "Search for Veggie Champions Contest."

As a winner Stephens will receive a $5,000 grant to support a local community vegetable garden and will attend a special two-day mom retreat in Chicago.

To enter, Stephens had to submit an essay including plans for the community vegetable garden. The retreat will include a special cooking class conducted by Art Smith, celebrity chef, author and television personality, and exclusive instruction from Chicago-based gardening expert, Jeanne Pinsof Nolan.

Stephens' funds will benefit the "Grow with me, Grow with the Y, Grow for others" community greenhouse and teaching garden at the Downtown Family YMCA of Chattanooga, Tenn. The YMCA will provide workshop opportunities for participants to build gardens at their local schools and neighborhoods and to use their own yards for growing their own food. Stephens also plans to take what she learns from this project and replicate it at her daughter's school.

Chef Art Smith, celebrity chef, cookbook author, television personality and two-time James Beard Award recipient, brings back meaning and symbolism to the word "table" and has united families and friends through the sharing of a meal. Smith believes his greatest gift to the community at large has been his philanthropy ­ Common Threads ­ the non-profit organization founded in 2003 that teaches children about diversity and tolerance through the world's great cultures and foods.