Gardens doing good #2: Celebrities get behind the Teaching Garden
The second gardening project to be featured in my occasional series, “Gardens Doing Good,” is more high-profile than the first, mainly because some recognizable celebrity names are attached to it. And that’s fabulous.
Led by environmental activist Kelly Meyer with big-name partners such as Gabrielle Reece and Tobey Maguire, the Teaching Garden project launched last month with a goal of planting more than 1,000 school gardens in the next two years.
“The Teaching Garden encompasses a core belief that when you educate a child about nutritional choices, that child will teach his or her family and ultimately pass that knowledge on to others,” Meyer writes in her Huffington Post blog. “We set out a simple task: grow an organic garden, support it with a nutrition curriculum, enhance it with education about the importance of physical fitness, and challenge each student to make small changes to improve their health. Finally, each Teaching Garden school makes a commitment to pass on their knowledge and passion for a healthy lifestyle to the next Teaching Garden school.”
Meyer says she was inspired by her own children’s dismal school lunch experiences, along with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, to start the initiative. With two school gardens planted so far and plenty of media attention, the Teaching Garden is destined for success. And that’s great news for thousands of school children who will get the opportunity to grow their own food, learn about where food comes from, and make healthier nutrition choices.
Do you know a “garden doing good” that should be featured here? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below or email me at nancy (at) nancyjackson.com.
