Organic Valley Adopts a School Garden

In keeping with our long-standing commitment to child and family community health and nutrition initiatives, the farmers and staff of Organic Valley are proud to be a sponsor of the National Gardening Association's Adopt a School Garden program.

Our donation has been earmarked to the Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley, CA, for the building of gardening units around the playground. These gardens will enable students to grow—then learn to cook and eat—their own vegetables.

"We are pleased to have these resources directed toward urban communities, where the hands-on education provided through school gardens gives children contact and a personal experience with the earth and growing food they would not experience otherwise" says Sara Tedeschi, Organic Valley's Community Nutrition Educator. "Gardening gives children the opportunity to understand that what is good for the earth is in turn good for them and for their communities, too."

The Adopt a School Garden program (ASG) is designed to bridge the gap between those lacking resources to implement school or community gardening programs and people who have the ability to help. ASG finances and empowers garden project leaders to establish resilient programs while putting in place a local network of support. Along with continued guidance and critical educational services and resources provided by NGA's experienced staff of horticultural educators, ASG germinates sustainable multidisciplinary school garden programs with standards-based education while strengthening the relationship between kids and their environment. For more information, visit www.garden.org/asg

About the National Gardening Association

For more than 30 years, the National Gardening Association (NGA) has been working to renew and sustain the essential connection between people, plants, and the environment through gardening.

Plants have the power to change our lives. They enable the simple and therapeutic pleasure of working in one's own garden. They play a basic role in providing clean air and serve as a nutritious basis for healthy living. And they are uniquely effective teaching tools.

NGA's programs and initiatives highlight the opportunities for plant-based education in schools, communities, and backyards across the country. Learn more at www.garden.org.