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UWS Teen Honored For Helping To Feed Thousands In NYC And Israel

January 24, 2023
By Gus Saltonstall

Steven Hoffen might be just 14, but he's already created a nonprofit that builds hydroponic gardens for people throughout the world.

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side teenager who founded a nonprofit that installs hydroponic gardens to feed families in need was recently awarded for his efforts. .

Steven Hoffen, 14, won the Youth Service of America's "Everyday Young Hero Award" for Exemplary Community Service — a feat the entire neighborhood can be proud of.

Hoffen is the founder of Growing Peace, which helps raise awareness and install hydroponic gardens that produce over 31,500 servings of food per year for communities in need.

Recently, Hoffen helped install these gardens at a food pantry for Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, and two in New York City — one at a facility to help reintegrate formerly incarcerated women of color and the other at the YM/YHWA of Washington Heights providing fresh produce for low income and disabled seniors.

“I am honored to receive an Everyday Young Hero award,” Hoffen said in a news release. “It is my hope that this award helps shine a spotlight on the very reason I started Growing Peace: to provide easy access to individuals to fresh fruits and vegetables, while also giving them a sense of purpose to maintain and cultivate their own gardens.”

Here's a breakdown of how much food Hoffen's three gardens were able to provide.

• Tel Aviv: Feeds up to 600 families twice a month with over 2,100 servings of fresh food.

• New York City: Produces up to 1,800 pounds of yearly produce that comes out to 6,300 servings per year.

Hoffen was inspired to create the nonprofit after a visit to an organization in Israel where Arab and Jewish women work together.