The idea behind the nonprofit came to Morgan after a trip to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. An architect by training, he traveled there with members of Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, expecting to design shelters for some of the 1.5 million people left homeless.

He returned with the conviction that food production was a greater need.

"I've never been that close to so much hurt and emotion," Morgan said. "It changes you completely."

Morgan hopes to build 100 gardens — 67 in the Charlotte area, paired with 33 in Haiti — using a soilless growing technique called aquaponics that relies on fish to fertilize plants cultivated in water.

The gardens here would serve mostly to educate students; the gardens in Haiti would provide dinner.

Because there's little arable land available in Haiti, other groups are also experimenting with aquaponics.

But Morgan's journey, as he put it, may be one of the craziest you'll read about. "I had no idea where I was headed or what I was doing. At my age, you've got nothing to lose," said Morgan, 71. "I figured I might as well follow this thing until it adds up."