Our Staff

Claudia Spurill

FOUNDER & Executive Director
 

Our Story — What Makes a Local Community’s Environment Thrive?

Oct 02, 2022

By: Shelby Warren

RICHMOND, Va. - Claudia Spurill, a Nurse and former journalist founded Seeds of Change in 2012

while volunteering for the Peninsula Health Department. Three little girls wished for a garden at their Hampton

Roads apartment complex and Claudia delivered.

Spurill recalls a cherished memory that she shared with her gardening association in Newport News. A

“Blue Sky” Activity is when individuals are asked to dream of what they envision for their community. A

younger boy claimed that he wanted to grow Doritos. The crowd laughed, but Spurill stuck up for the boy’s

idea, got a bag of Doritos and discerned that the ingredients were growable.

Seeds of Change is a nonprofit organization that aims to unite the local community through agriculture,

self-sustenance, and a healthier lifestyle. The Seeds of Change garden is located in Richmond’s 8th District

along Biggs Road, on the Southside. Locals experience food insecurity due to grocery stores being far in

proximity to their homes.

Seeds of Change holds a community cleanup day on the final Saturday of each month, as well as

gardening days every Saturday. Volunteers created a compost bin out of recycled materials on Sept. 17. The

following Saturday a greenhouse was built.

“The Seeds of Change organization was inspired by my father,” Spurill says.

Spurill’s father is Claude Spurill. His dedication to farming was passed down to his daughter from him.

This has greatly impacted Spurills work, helping others find a sustainable way of life.

“He was one step away from being a sharecropper and never had the opportunity for formal education,”

Spurill said.

Spurill noticed that senior citizens created a makeshift garden in January 2018 on Biggs Road’s

Southside. She checked on the garden to find it had been demolished. The garden was sold off to industry and

adjacent land was replaced by a parking lot. This event urged Claudia to begin her mission on Biggs Road.

The plot of land utilized by Seeds of Change is 1.9 acres. This land was allocated by Mike Harding, the

owner of the neighboring Chesapeake Bay Cabinet Company.

Seeds of Change is looking for more volunteers that are representative of the neighborhood’s

population. Rachel Kline, a VCU student majoring in Environmental Studies and Seeds of Change intern spoke

about this lack of communal presence.

“I don’t want the organization to be something else that’s infiltrating this community space without

actually serving this community,” Kline said. “Our focus from here on out is involving the community that we

are actively trying to serve.”

The plants for the fall season include broccoli, leeks, chives, spinach, kale and tomatoes. These plants

are intended for use by the locals. These specimens are grown to teach individuals how cultivation works. More

flowers are designed to be planted for pollinators. This garden is run by people who know about invasive

species and are willing to teach others. Seeds of Change, the title exemplifies a vision for sustainability and

continuous growth.

This story was written by Shelby Warren (warrense2@vcu.edu), a Broadcast Journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University.