Kenneth Griffin, a police officer, chef and founder of nonprofit No Matter What, built a fence with a local teen around a vacant lot at 6505 S. Bishop St. Then, with no experience in gardening, he gathered more teens and police officers and built a thriving community garden on the land this summer.

The Denzel Thornton Memorial Garden, named after Griffin’s friend who was fatally shot in 2016, is no replacement for the Whole Foods, which closes Sunday, Griffin said. But Griffin thought: What better way to teach youth to advocate for their futures than to learn how to grow the fresh food being snatched from their community?

As the garden closes for the season, Griffin, who was born in, raised and still calls Englewood home, said he looks forward to scaling up and growing more fruits and vegetables in the heart of the neighborhood.

“Our youth learned you don’t have to go to the grocery store to get your fruit and vegetables,” Griffin said. “You can make a difference in your backyard.”