Garden Grinch Heists Harvest

(Memphis) A garden that helps nurture relationships and teaches the young where vegetables come from is now a garden with slim pickings.

“There are no peppers out there ,” said Adrienne Bailey.  “All of them are gone.”

Adrienne Bailey, the president of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, says the plan has always been to give the vegetables away for free, “Cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, okra.”

Instead, they’ve been stolen, repeatedly, “It’s been multiple times a day!”

The garden is on a very public street where cars pass and people walk by.

The thief could be anybody.

But Bailey has a prime pepper-picker in mind, “A gentleman down the block.”

The tip came from Joe Sherrod, a homeless man who lives on Tillman Street, whose eyes have been on the garden all along.

 ”So how often have you seen that guy stealing vegetables?” asked Reporter Sabrina Hall.

“Everyday. Everyday,” said Sherrod.

He says the cantaloupe criminal works across the street.

 ”We did confront him and he was warned to stay off the property,” said Bailey.

Bailey says she’s even called in law enforcement who has warned the man to get his veggies elsewhere.

Yet, she says, the reaping continues, “Yes. There has still been some more.”

“I just shake my head,” said Sherrod. “I just look at him.”

Bailely says she would like to have a fence around the urban garden to show that it’s off-limits, but Big Brothers, Big Sisters can’t afford the additional expense.

If you’d like to help out, call (901) 323-5440.