Local community members gathered at Hawthorn’s Restaurant Lounge Saturday to help raise money for Development In Gardening (DIG), a San Diego-based organization that helps people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa maintain quality of life.

According to organizers, the second annual Healing Seeds For Africa fund-raising event for the local nonprofit started by Steve Bolinger, a former barback at Bourbon Street, raised more than $15,000.

“Steve has become a local San Diego hero, and the way he has passed his inspiration forward by becoming an example for people locally and across the nation to give back and help those in need is amazing,” said founding DIG board member “Big” Mike Phillips.

“Additionally, because he can relate to them, Steve has brought out a lot of younger people in the community who are becoming involved in giving back to an organization that is helping people across the world,” Phillips said.

DIG’s mission is to provide urban-based HIV/AIDS patients living in developing nations with the highest nutrition possible. DIG accomplishes this by installing vegetable gardens in HIV/AIDS hospitals and orphanages, and educating outpatients, caregivers and hospital staff about the nutritional value that urban gardens provide.

Bolinger, along with fellow Peace Corp member Sarah Koch, started the garden project, which harvests healthy produce and supplements the meals of more than 6,000 patients per year, while serving in the corps in Africa.

Bolinger returned when his duties were over to implement the DIG project, with seed money raised from local community members at the start of the local nonprofit two years ago.

The project has since grown to include a total of three gardens that are now sustained by HIV/AIDS outpatients at three Senegal locations.

Additionally, according to the local philanthropists, the gardens have developed a safe space for HIV-positive people in Senegal because the disease is still not often talked about and stigma is attached to the illness.

“DIG hopes to continue to raise money for this much needed cause, which not only takes the simplest idea of growing food to feed the body, but also grows the spirit of helping others, which fuels the soul,” Phillips said, noting that the nonprofit will continue to hold benefits throughout the country in the coming months to help continue raising funds for the cause.

To learn more about Development In Gardening, or to donate, visit www.developmentingardening.org.