CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There are more and more opportunities for future generations in rural Appalachia to be successful agricultural and business entrepreneurs through the process of cultivating strong partnerships.
That was the message that Golden Globe winning actress and co-founder of a growing organic food company, Jennifer Garner delivered Thursday at the Education Alliance’s 2025 Education Summit held in Charleston.
Garner was the keynote speaker during Thursday’s summit that had themes centering around growing partnerships, cultivating opportunities for student success, and strengthening agriculture industry opportunities for rural America.
She became the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Once Upon a Farm, a company that produces organic and nutritious baby food and kids snacks in 2017.
Once Upon a Farm works with the international charity organization that protects children from harm known as Save the Children through their “A Million Meals” program that provides 1 million nutritious meals to children facing food insecurities in rural communities.
Garner said Once Upon a Farm and Save the Children’s missions are deeply aligned.
“Once Upon a Farm wants kids to have a healthy, safe start, so does Save the Children,” Garner said. “They work in tandem with each other, so why not bring their efforts together and braid them up.”
Board Chair of Education Alliance D.F. Mock said that there was no one better to be speaking at Thursday’s event than Garner, because after growing up in rural West Virginia herself and then going on to become a successful entrepreneur, her story can serve as inspiration for all students in the state striving to create a better future for themselves.
He said Garner takes the agricultural elements of her business and blends it with the educational side, and gives students in West Virginia the opportunity to understand that there could be a future for them in utilizing an educational-agricultural, farm-to-table business model right here in the Mountain State.
“You know, using that industry, along with technology, students learn they can really develop something and possibly have a future here and build a career in the state of West Virginia,” Mock said.
Garner said along with Save the Children, she has managed to build up other successful partnerships to help grow her business as well.
She said she is proud to say that Once Upon a Farm became the first consumer packaged goods company to work directly with EFI, or Equitable Food Initiative, which ensures farmers are getting paid fairly, being treated equally, and operating in safe working conditions.
Garner said 50% of farmers are also parents, and that partnership also contributes to her overall mission of helping children in rural communities.
Additionally, she said they started a partnership with the Women Infant and Children program, more commonly known as WIC so that mothers on WIC can also have access to the organic, healthy foods for children that her company produces.
Garner said Once Upon a Farm is focused on being an ally for all parents who want to feed their kids healthy and nutritious foods.
“At the same time, as we did that, we wanted to make sure that we were deepening and bettering the nutritional value for all kids, not just kids who could afford our products,” she said.
However, Garner said being able to reach the scope of children across all rural communities in the country that has always been their mission goes back to the support from Save the Children.
She said the Save the Children and Once Upon a Farm partnership effectively works together in the continuous battle of helping kids and families who have fallen on hard times, and that’s the proudest partnership she could ever ask for.
“Once Upon a Farm might not have access to those kids to give them product, but with Save’s help, they have sent out a million meals to Save the Children areas and to food banks in those areas to give away one million meals, and knowing that they are going to reach kids who are hit the hardest,” Garner said.
In addition to the moderated discussion with Garner held at Thursday’s summit, the event also included a Student Expo featuring West Virginia schools that have found success in developing innovative agricultural programs through various partnerships they have formed.
Mock said the mission of Education Alliance is in bridging the gap between the education and business communities. 
He said they are able to work with the business community to form partnerships in education that allows opportunities for students to find future success, whether it be through their West Virginia Jobs Ready Graduate program or their newly formed WV School-Business Partnership of the Year Awards Program.
“That allows each school system in the state of West Virginia to find a business partner which will empower them to think outside of just the classroom where it can open a vision and create a meaningful impact on student’s lives that may help them design and maybe find a strategy of what their future may be,” Mock said.
Pocahontas County Schools was the recipient of the first-ever School-Business Partnership of the Year Award through their partnership with Nature’s Mountain Classroom. They were selected as the winner out of 75 school-business partnerships in the state and were presented a check worth $25,000 at Thursday’s event.
There was also an industry panel held Thursday following Garner’s presentation. The panel featured a host of agricultural and economic leaders in the state, including West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner, Kent Leonhardt, Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby, Brad Gritt, the general manager of Gritt’s Farm, and a spokesperson from Coalfield Development.