Nature’s Path is giving $50,000 in cash, garden design, technical assistance, and fund raising support to two deserving communities.
Our school,
Alice Birney Elementary, an International Studies Magnet has a large established school garden comprised of numerous fruit trees, herbs, California native plants, drought tolerant plants and a beautiful vegetable garden. Additionally, the preschool has a small raised bed box to start teaching even our youngest community members how to grow food.
Approximately 3000 square feet of our urban campus is currently maintained by volunteers, parents, a paid Garden Club instructor (2 hours a week/16 weeks) and students for the purpose of growing food and learning about nature, plants and agriculture in general. Additionally, four compost bins and a worm bin are maintained to teach children about conservation, decomposers (bugs and bacteria) and natural soil amendment. With such an established garden, why are we requesting grant support?
We are humbly requesting financial assistance that will allow us to hire an independent educator (20 hours a week/36 weeks) to run the Garden Club and help the teaching staff integrate the garden into their classroom curriculum. The curriculum that is developed will belong to the school and will be used in future years. We also believe that if we pay for this position, we are demonstrating our support of those who pursue agricultural education in spite of an academic environment that is devastated by budget cuts. Thank you for your consideration and your support of agricultural education.
When you have a moment, please vote for Birney Elementary School Garden grant. Click the below link, go to the top/right 'log-in' box, create an account, and vote for Birney's garden project.
Please feel free to pass along to your friends and family. Every vote counts!
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