Our kids are a community of learners who are grateful for the structure, love, and learning that happens every day in our learning community. They are a richly diverse group who speak Spanish, Russian, Punjabi, Vietnamese & more. They bring their varied cultures to our school & their smiles too.
At school, they can see health and wellness modeled for them and pick up habits for a balanced life that can stay with them for a lifetime.
Three of four of the children at our Title I school live below the poverty line. Their families struggle to make ends meet. 1 in 2 of our students live in high density housing with very little green space for recreation. Many of their guardians struggle with addiction, physical ailments, mental health issues, or are incarcerated. School is a place where they can receive the love, the food, & the predictability that they lack at home.
When they are at school, they become immersed in the moments. The moments of play, healthy food, learning, & conversation. They are connected to adults that genuinely care for them. They've walked through our doors. They are part of us. We love them and they love us.
My Project
One of every two of our students live in high density housing where access to outdoor space for gardening is unavailable. Recently, our local grocery store closed its doors. Families without vehicles have serious food access issues. Even the city bus does not travel to the two grocery stores nearest our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is in need of a variety of solutions for our food desert issues.
Luckily, we have a large school garden that is the heart of our school culture where "We Can Grow Our Own" produce.
The garden is used for education around science, cooking, and sustainable living during the day and is open to families to work and harvest in the evenings and summers. Many families and students utilize food grown in our garden at their homes.
The kids are little vegetable lovers. Since most of our students eat at least two meals a day at school, we are lucky they have access to a salad bar that sometimes contains the very vegetables the kids have worked to grow. And munch on them they do. They love them! It seems kids are more willing to eat what they have worked to grow themselves. The gardening tools we are asking for will help them to do just that; grow good food for themselves and their neighbors.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Morgan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
