Plant. Cook. Thrive.
Meet the people working every day to bring fresh food, hands on learning, and community connection to Corpus Christi.
Tevin Gray, Executive Director
This is the person who is somehow everywhere at once.
Meet Tevin, the heartbeat behind Grow Local South Texas. His connection to food and community traces back to a family-owned cafe in Dayton, Ohio, where he discovered a lasting passion for real food made with intention. When he moved to Corpus Christi, GLSTX's farmers market was one of the first places he found himself, and after showing up week after week, he was invited to join the team. That was 2016. Since then, he's helped build the organization's educational programs, developed a first-of-its-kind outdoor classroom at Corpus Christi Montessori School, and grown into the role of Executive Director. Director by title, teammate by nature, he leads the staff and guides the mission while still showing up sleeves-rolled-up for summer camps, workshops, and everything in between. He doesn't just run this organization.
He lives it.
Carmelinda Ruiz, Market Manager
This is the person who makes Wednesday feel like a celebration.
Meet Carmelinda, the one behind the scenes making sure your favorite vendors are set up, supported, and ready every single week. After more than a decade coordinating events and operations at Del Mar College, she brought her organizing skills and people-first attitude to the market in 2025. Now she keeps 20+ vendors organized, the energy welcoming, and the market running smoothly week after week. A proud advocate for local food and handmade goods, she loves connecting people through good food, creativity, and shared experiences, and if you've seen us online lately, she's had a hand in that too.
Taylor Thorpe, Garden Educator & TikTok Master
This is the person who will teach you to grow your own food and make it go viral.
Meet Taylor, garden educator, TikTok master, and one of our most enthusiastic humans. She's been with GLSTX since March of 2023, building custom lessons on planting, growing, and cooking, helping with veggie vouchers at the Wednesday market, bringing that same energy to every summer camp, workshop, and after-school program, and somehow making it all look fun. She graduated from Texas A&M Corpus Christi with a bachelor's in environmental science and is currently enrolled at Del Mar College pursuing an associate's in American Sign Language Interpreting, because her goal is to make the outdoors and garden education accessible to absolutely everyone, and she's well on her way.
Hanna Kiely, Operations Manager & SNAP Coordinator
This is the person who shows up every day wearing about six different hats, and makes every single one look effortless.
Meet Hanna, the one keeping GLSTX running behind the scenes. With a background in education, administration, and pastoral care, she brings both the systems and the heart to everything she does. She manages daily operations, handles grants, data, and social media, and leads SNAP and nutrition incentive programs so fresh local food reaches the people who need it most. She works closely with farmers, vendors, and community members to reduce barriers to fresh, local food and create welcoming spaces where community and local food can thrive.
The gears at GLSTX turn a whole lot smoother because of her.
Julia Stinson, Garden of Grace Coordinator & Educator
This is the person who came to volunteer and ended up running a garden.
Meet Julia, coordinator of our Garden of Grace community garden, educator, and one of the most dedicated people on our team. She started as a volunteer in February of 2023, fell in love with the mission, and never looked back. Now she oversees garden operations, coordinates volunteers, creates custom lessons on planting, growing, and cooking, helps distribute veggie vouchers at the Wednesday market, shows up fully for summer camps and workshops, and teaches in our after-school programs. She graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a Bachelor's in Biomedical Science, and with a long-term goal of attending medical school, she sees community gardening exactly how we do, as an intersection of environmental sustainability and public health in action.
Laney Gonzalez, Garden Educator
This is the person who makes learning about vegetables genuinely exciting.
Meet Laney, the brain behind all of our garden education programming. She joined in August of 2023 as a Garden Educator and grew into coordinating the whole program, planning, developing, and overseeing garden educational programs and learning activities, designing custom lessons on planting, growing, cooking, and more, distributing veggie vouchers at the Wednesday market, and pouring herself into summer camps, workshops, and after-school programs year-round. She graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor's in Psychology and currently works as a Library Reference Assistant at Del Mar College. With the passion to assist and educate, she brings a whole lot of heart and depth to everything she does here, and always goes the extra mile to help people learn and grow.
What Sets Us Apart
Food Access For All
We believe fresh, local food should be within reach for every family in Corpus Christi. Through SNAP matching programs like Double Up Food Bucks and Grow Bucks, we make sure cost is never the barrier.
Plant, Cook, THRIVE!
Our signature program takes families from garden to table. We teach people how to grow food, cook it, and build lasting habits that support long term health.
Community Over Everything
We are not just a market. We are neighbors, educators, and advocates working to grow a stronger, healthier South Texas, one relationship at a time.