1.17.2022 10 Years of GROWing
| 10 years of GROWing As we welcome in the year 2022 we also celebrate 10 years of GROW! The first school garden built by GROW was established at State Road Elementary School in 2012. Over the past ten years there have been so many people who have played an instrumental role in helping to support and develop this organization. The overwhelming community belief that we can truly make a difference in the health and wellbeing of youth through hands-on seed to table garden based learning experiences is what has led GROW to be the thriving organization you know today. |
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| Exciting Plans for 2022 In our 10th year, we hope you join us for some very exciting events and programming. Currently, we are busy preparing to launch field trip experiences at the greenhouse. We will begin with a field trip pilot program in February with students from Lincoln Middle School and Hamilton/SOTAI Elementary School. There will be events and programming happening throughout the year. A spring Kids Cooking Challenge in March will be open to all youth 18 and under. Throughout the winter months the greenhouse will be full of color as we grow produce and herbs for the school lunch program and field trip taste tests. Spring garden lessons will kick off in March. We will be sharing lessons with 2,000 students at eight area schools. The spring plant sale fundraiser scheduled for mid-May will be a great way to support all of these programs and to help get your own growing started. The summer growing season will be packed with programming including a full schedule of farm camps, summer school offerings, and open garden events. There will also be plenty of opportunities to volunteer in the gardens. We will all gather to celebrate our 10th anniversary and seed to table learning at the Great Grow Get Together in September, just as we resume garden lessons at all of our school gardens. In addition to lessons in the fall we will be hosting field trips to the farm. As the weather cools, greenhouse field trips will start up again too. Finally, a fall Kids Cooking Challenge will help students put all they learn about healthy foods throughout the year to use as they cook up creative and healthy recipes. We are so excited to deliver all of these GROWing opportunities in 2022. Thank you for supporting the mission of connecting youth to healthy food and nature to make all of this possible! |
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| Thank you for helping us meet our goal! Through the support of our generous community we were able to meet our year end fundraising goal. With the matching funds from long time GROW supporters Vicki Miller and Dr. Gabe and Annie Berendes we were able to raise $14,020 that will go directly to connecting youth to healthy food and nature! |
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