On Earth Day, it’s easy to get carried away with how exciting it is to be building and planting beautiful, organic Good Food Gardens. But last night I got a good reminder of exactly why we are building the gardens and of the families that so desperately need our help at the Food Bank’s Can-Do Award Dinner. The annual award’s dinner, which raises money to fight hunger in New York City alone, was its usual success with guests like Jimmy Fallon, Stanley Tucci, Jon Bon Jovi and even Bill Clinton showing up to raise money and awareness for the very real concerns of feeding all the hungry mouths in New York City. But this year, the numbers were especially daunting. Four million New Yorkers are going hungry every day in our own neighborhoods. That’s half of New York. And three times that many children, around 12 million children are at risk for hunger all across America every day.

That’s why we continue to fight the fight to provide access, information and nutrition education to bring nourishing foods to every child. And that is what the Good Food Gardens is all about. Are the Good Food Gardens good for our earth? OF COURSE!  But most importantly—they’re good for inspiring, educating and best of all feeding all the little mouths that deserve Good Food every day. 

Happy Earth Day! Plant a seed, sprout a garden, feed a hungry mouth!

-Sarah Copeland, Good Food Ambassador, Earth Day 2009