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Donation provides school garden education

Thank you to Heather Young at Thrivent Financial.  Heather is donating $6000 towards garden education at the Grow Spence garden.  This will help provide over 100 hands-on garden classes for children at Spence Elementary in 2018.  Hands-on garden education has been shown to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables children choose to eat in a day.  This can make a huge difference in children’s health, behavior and learning.  Thank you Heather.

Teachers and staff also can take their students out to the garden to do lessons or get a brain break.  We often see Principal Shirel taking a few children out into this nature space to cool down before returning to the classroom.

Principal Shirel and Heather Young holding the $6000 check.

A Spence Elementary student showing appreciation for Heather Young’s donation.

Winter Work

Some wonder what garden and farm educators are up to over the winter.  It’s actually a very busy time.

We have been:

Winter planning is needed to get school sites ready for spring.

  • Hiring and orienting interns
  • Strategic planning with staff and board members
  • Creating upcoming lessons
  • Developing new programs
  • Applying for grants and funding for new programming
  • Creating our yearly budget
  • Meeting with garden teams

Garden Education Theme and Goals Revealed

Grow La Crosse program directors have revealed their theme and goals for the upcoming growing season.

Theme:  Growing Creative Minds

Helping children discover healthy food and nature through inquiry, the scientific method, and identification.

Planning during winter months allows for more time to be spent on garden programming during the growing season.

Goals:

  • Empowering self-guided learning (students, staff, interns, teachers)
  • Connecting a diverse, multi-generational community around the mission
  • Strengthen branding
  • Expanding reach and programming
  • Continuing hands-on learning opportunities
  • Establish new spaces

Board of Directors

Seeking Board of Directors members:

We are now accepting applications for 2-3 new board members.  Board members should have time to put towards the organization, have experience with non-profits, and have a passion for our mission.

If interested or you have questions, please contact Jenny Klein at jklein@uwlax.edu

Thank you to our great Board of Directors who are helping to kick off the year.

President: Jenny Klein

Vice-president: Judd Steinback

Secretary: Annie Berendes

Heidi Worminhaus

Heather Young

Marketing and Communications Intern Position

Grow La Crosse is looking for a Marketing and Communication Intern for this spring semester. Interns commit to a total of 90 hours for the semester. This internship is not paid, but interns gain real skills. Past interns have gained credits and used this as an independent study course. For more information, contact jamie@growlacrosse.org.

Interns are a valuable part of our organization.

Join our team.