Congrats to 2019/2020 School Garden Grant Recipients

The Environmental Center is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2019/2020 School Garden Grants. Over $10,000 is being awarded to nine recipients, including public and private schools, an educational farm, and community-based youth organizations in Bend, Redmond and Prineville. Since 2017, The Environmental Center has raised and distributed $28,000 to help build 10 new youth garden projects and support 14 additional existing school gardens.

• $1,500 to Deschutes Children’s Foundation to purchase additional plants and drip irrigation supplies, prepare new planting areas, and provide a hands-on teacher training at the start of the school year for their nature playscape, which includes many garden elements. The nature playscape at Deschutes Children’s Foundation’s East Bend Campus offers a unique experience for the children served by MountainStar Family Relief Nursery and Head Start to deepen their relationship to nature and the outdoor world.
• $1,500 to Powell Butte Community Charter School to build an outdoor classroom to enhance their native and pollinator garden. Funds will purchase benches, a storage shed and gardening supplies to plant a vegetable garden in existing raised beds.
• $1,500 to REACH (Redmond Experience Activity Connection Hub) to purchase seeds, starts, supplies and tools to expand their existing garden to include a mission driven social enterprise project of students selling cut flowers to offer their youth an opportunity to learn about floral arrangement, marketing, sales and business concepts.
• $1,500 to High Desert Middle School to purchase a greenhouse kit to be used by the school as a valuable inclusion tool that may support a connection between life skills, TAG, and the HDMS student body. The school garden will be used for science, cooking, and as an alternative space for supporting self-regulation.
• $1,500 to Cascades Academy to start a new school garden to extend the school’s mission of experiential education and social responsibility in which students and families of various ages can engage with the curriculum in a hands-on way while reducing their environmental footprint and producing food for those in need in our community.
• $1,000 to Bend YMCA to buy infrastructure supplies needed to start a new outdoor garden. The new garden will give Bend YMCA participants a hands-on approach that will enhance their learning and experience during preschool, after school and summer camps.
• $900 to John Tuck Elementary School in Redmond to install drip irrigation in their school greenhouse, buy garden tools and paint for a renewed tool shed mural.
• $600 to Sakari Farms Educational Cultural Farm to buy supplies to build on-farm infrastructure including a washing station, work benches and interpretive signs to support farm-based curriculum for school groups visiting for farm field trips. Sakari Farms specializes in growing and education about native/traditional foods.
• $500 to StepUP to purchase greenhouse seed starting supplies to support and expand their current school garden efforts to grow plant starts for other district school gardens. StepUp serves Redmond K- age 21 students and strive to meet students where they are and build their skills and confidence to StepUP to success.

These garden grants would not be possible without the support of local and regional businesses and foundations. Thanks to support from Bend Whole Foods Market, Mt. Bachelor, NewSun Energy, Bend Garbage & Recycling, Center For Life Chiropractic, El Sancho, Ohana Salsa, Pacific Source Health Plans, Saginaw Sunset, Savory Spice Shop, The Roundhouse Foundation, First Interstate Bank, Cascade Natural Gas/MDU Resources, St. Charles Foundation, Pacific Power Foundation, Chambers Family Foundation, Crevier Family Foundation, Portland General Electric, and the Peggy and Bob Fowler Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation.

The Environmental Center’s Garden for Every School program exists to connect youth to nature through food. We do this through garden and nutrition-based education in the classroom, cafeteria, school gardens and farm field trips. We support youth organizations, schools and districts with annual garden grants and on-going technical assistance. We support educators through our Garden Educator Network school garden tours and workshops. Finally, we ground truth our own learning here in our on-site school demonstration garden, the Kansas Avenue Learning Garden. Learn more at envirocenter.org/schoolgardens.