ZEBULON - They ate burgers, heard gardening tips and took home hundreds of strawberrry, tomato and pepper plants Sunday at Grow and Share's garden party.

About 70 people came out to the event sponsored by Grow and Share, gardeners on a mission.

Grow and Share is the brainchild of Frank and Kay Whatley of Zebulon who raised more than 10,000 plants this season and gave them to 700 gardeners, six community gardens, four school gardens and two gardens at assisted living centers.

Those gardeners promise to give a percentage of the food they grow away.

On Sunday, Gray Squirrel Farms of Middlesex donated a combination of 1,000 strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, squash and more.

"We got rid of lots of tomatoes, and strawberries," said Kay Whatley. "People went crazy for for the strawberries. It was just a fun day."

Kay Whatley said they raised more than $400 from bison burgers donated by Earth Fare in Briar Creek.

Whatley said the donated meat, buns, and cases of water cut their costs and made it possible to make enough money to cover Grow and Share's educational events in June.

Grow and Share will have an educational booth at a food festival in Raleigh and at the music festival Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee. There they will be handing out seeds, and securing pledges to grow and share food with food banks and neighbors.

"We're having fun," said Kay Whatley. "...It's a rough economy, and a lot of people are having a hard time. So we've got people working at the ground level to make sure that everybody eats."

The Whatleys were inspired to start the organization after hearing a speech on television of President Barack Obama.

"He said everybody needs to roll up their sleeves, and this is the work we chose to do," said Kay Whatley. "We rolled up our sleeves and did this."

They gave away their first plants in 2008. And now hundreds of plants later, Grow and Share receives donations from across the country.