KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Knox County residents listen as Mayor Ragsdale addresses one health concern.

Mayor Ragsdale says, "When we have 25 percent of our children that can be classified as obese, that number's way too high."

Four out of ten children in Knox County are either obese or overweight- a problem causing increasing health concerns down the road.

Stephanie Welch is the director of community development and planning with the Knox County Health Department. She says, "That puts them at risk for cardiovascular disease, asthma, other chronic illnesses that only will affect their quality of life but they really affect the life and economic future of our community."

Now, thanks to a $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, our children will gain the mentality and drive to lose weight.

Ben Epperson is the farm manager at Beardsley Farm. He says, "We'll be doing stuff like planting raspberries, blueberries, orchards and also putting in beds so that faith based organizations, schools, children can come not only learn about healthy eating but how to grow healthy food as well."

Mayor Ragsdale says, "When you think about it, if we can get our children eating more healthy foods, exercising more, many of our obesity issues are going to go away, and these obesity issues lead to health problems down the road so this is a very important day for us."

It's the 'healthy kids, healthy community initiative,' and while it won't fix childhood obesity overnight-Welch says, "This really is a long term commitment, but we really hope that by the end of four years, we'll see significant changes in our community."

Knox County is one of 41 sites selected for the 'healthy kids, healthy communities'. Beardsley Farms is just one of many partners in this initiative specifically putting community gardens in three neighborhoods- Inskip, Lonsdale and Mascot. For more information, call Stephanie Welch at 215-5170.