Sooners, Pros for Vets Team Up to Provide Local Garden

Quinton Carter's foundation helped Pros for Vets build a garden for the kids of Kindercare.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:17 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners, Pros for Vets Team Up to Provide Local Garden

Originally Published: Mar 25, 2011 5:47 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

NORMAN, Okla. – The foundation started by former Oklahoma safety Quinton Carter teamed up with Pros for Vets and two current Sooners to unveil a new a garden Friday for the kids of Kindercare.

Carter spent much of his four-year career at OU helping children in Kindercare, and was awarded with the Wood Citizen Cup for his efforts.

“I saw a side of him I didn't know football players had,” said Wanda Ramirez with Norman Kindercare. “He loves on the children it's like he doesn't have enough arms.”

Carter’s college career is now over, but he has not stopped caring for the Kindercare kids. The SOUL foundation – which Carter created – partnered with Pros for Vets to donate a new garden to the Kindercare facilities that will be used to help with the kids’ education.

“Education is the big word,” Ramirez said. “The children are going to learn how to plant. They are going to get to learn what vegetables are, what flowers are. They are going to plant. They are going to take care of the garden.”

Carter was unable to attend the ceremony unveiling the new garden, but taking his place were two current Sooners, quarterback Landry Jones and defensive back Julian Wilson.

“It's just a way for me to give back to the community and help out a little bit,” Jones said. “I just walked inside and all of them gave me a big hug, so i'm excited about coming down here more often.”

“It's a great honor for me to be able to do this,” Wilson said. “Normally everything you see right here is just cement, so we changed it all out and made a garden just to give the kids something else to look forward to.”

To learn more about Pros for Vets, including what other OU players and people in the community are doing to help, visit http://www.news9.com/global/category.asp?c=204978.