GIFTS pairs hands-on community gardening with mentorship, STEM, and real leadership training for girls ages 7 to 18 — because the strongest root systems grow the tallest trees.
GIFTS stands for Girls Intellectually Focused in Transforming Self — a mouthful we're proud of, because every word is doing something. We're a 501(c)(3) based in South Fulton, and our theory of change is simple: hand a girl a trowel, a mentor, and a real problem to solve, and watch what grows.
We're not a one-off workshop or a summer fling. We're a pathway — Seedlings, Sprouts, and Harvesters — that follows a girl from age 7 all the way through 18, pairing garden-based learning with the social-emotional and academic skills schools don't always have room for.
GIFTS is led by women who've done the work themselves — in the boardroom and in the garden bed.
Founder
Founder & Managing Member, Kirton Ink Consulting Group LLC
The mind and momentum behind GIFTS — built on the belief that a girl who learns to grow something with her own hands will never doubt what else she's capable of.
Board Member
RVP, Primerica
Brings sharp financial and strategic judgment to the board table — the same rigor she wants every GIFTS girl to see modeled up close.
Board Member
Managing Member, The Organized Queen
A dedicated voice for South Fulton girls at the board level.
Photo coming soonSeedlings (7–10), Sprouts (11–14), and Harvesters (15–18) each get age-appropriate lessons — so she's never bored and never in over her head.
Every garden session doubles as a social-emotional lesson — patience while something grows, resilience when it doesn't, and the vocabulary to talk about both.
Our oldest girls don't just learn about entrepreneurship — they run the G.I.F.T.S. Farmers Market, set prices, and balance a ledger.
We know the schools, the summers, and the specific gaps girls here fall through — because we live here too.
From her first seed packet to her first profit margin, there's a program built for exactly where she is.
First roots, first curiosity — plant life cycles, sharing, patience, and naming big feelings.
Soil chemistry meets middle-school chaos — Agri-STEM, self-esteem, nutrition, and teamwork.
Leadership, entrepreneurship, and community impact — she sells what she grows and mentors who's behind her.
My daughter came home the first week and told me tomatoes need "boundaries" too. I laughed, then I realized she'd learned that from weeding, and used it to describe a friendship. That's when I understood what this program actually does.
Danielle R.
Parent, Sprouts cohort — South Fulton
I run a small business myself, and I've watched a fifteen-year-old from the Harvesters cohort negotiate a produce price with more composure than half my junior staff. GIFTS isn't a feel-good program. It's a pipeline.
Marcus T.
Local business owner & mentor volunteer
Before GIFTS, I didn't think I was a "STEM person." Now I've tested soil pH, run a market stand, and mentored a nine-year-old who reminds me of me. Turns out I was a STEM person the whole time.
Amara, age 16
Harvesters cohort, GIFTS alumna