ACWORTH — An Acworth church has earned a national environmental designation for the second time, and the garden at the heart of that recognition is feeding thousands of people across Cherokee and Cobb counties.
The recertification
Heritage Presbyterian Church on Bells Ferry Road has been recertified as an Earth Care Congregation by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Presbyterian Hunger Program. The designation recognizes congregations that treat environmental stewardship as an expression of faith. To earn it, Heritage reduced waste, installed motion-sensing lights and took other steps to protect the environment.
As of March of last year, 362 Presbyterian churches across 42 states hold the Earth Care certification. Eight of them are in Georgia.
Kevin’s Garden
Central to the recertification is Kevin’s Garden, a community garden on the church’s property named for a young man from the community who died in 2010. The garden includes more than two dozen plots cultivated or sponsored by members of the congregation and the broader community.
Gardeners are asked to donate a portion of each harvest to local food pantries. Last year, they provided 180 pounds of fresh produce to Heritage’s Jay Weaver Food Pantry, which distributed 334,000 pounds of food to more than 13,000 people in Cherokee and Cobb counties in 2025…