Over the last two weeks, we've had so many exciting moments in the Good Food Gardens that the press picked up on it! First, we headed west to Altadena, California to build our first Good Food Garden with a Head Start school at the Arroyo Head Start. About sixty eager four-year-olds crowded into their new garden to plant along with Share Our Strength's founder Billy Shore and Jennie McCarthy, spokesperson for Weight Watchers who sponsored the garden. Access Hollywood came to see what the excitement was all about, and got some precious airtime with Jennie and the kids. I’ll be sure to let you know when that airs.

Here to tell us more about that experience is the Rise & Shine Mentor, Lottie Gatewood. Don't miss the link to the episode online, where you can see some of our Good Food Garden Ambassadors in action.

-Sarah

 Dear Ms. Sarah,

Our Rise & Shine Program has sure taken off. We hope you were able to watch NBC’s Nightly News last Thursday. We were featured in the Making a Difference segment. If you didn’t see us, here’s a link to our story and to the Web story on NBC’s Web site:

 We are now reaching 100 families at our distributions. We elected our officers and now each one of has a specific job. We manage everything from the budget, financials, purchasing, marketing, customer relations and of course, the garden!

It was exciting to have a national news team here interviewing us. It made all of us extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish and what we are doing to help members of our community. Our goal is to be a model for communities around the country to replicate. We have the exposure NBC gave us will help move us in that direction.

We want to thank you and Share Our Strength again for supporting us and for allowing us to have the magnificent garden. We will all begin working with a professional horticulturalist in September so that we become even more familiar with gardening.

That’s all for now from your Rise & Shine Friends!

When we built our very first Good Food Garden, in San Francisco, we poured months of love and research and energy into the garden, but sadly, we never got to meet the kids who would give this garden a home. They live on Treasure Island, which is connected to San Francisco by a single bridge, a bridge that was blocked the day we planned to visit.

So, each month, I look forward to the letters and photos they send to Kendra, who started our Good Food Gardens Pen Pal Program, letters that give us a little insight into the life of our first garden, and the lives of the little ones who have made it their own. But still, I often feel like I'm missing the real picture, having never heard their little voices, or watched their curious fingers explore every green sprout the way I had with the kids in the other Good Food Garden we've built.

A few weeks ago, Kendra came into the kitchen with a box she received from Boys and Girls Club of Treasure Island, filled with their artistic offering of thanks. The whirl of the busy kitchen slowed to a halt as we stood and pulled out more than a dozen little paper plates, stapled together with drawings of the garden, with a yarn tail that held little pictures with words like "Seed," "Sprout" and "Plant," colored in carefully by tiny hands. As we pulled them out, one by one from behind the Styrofoam peanuts, I couldn't help but read each name carefully drawn in colored crayon aloud.  

Jada…Chloe….Vonya…Lakrista….Carolina.

Suddenly, these children became so much more to me than just our very first Good Food Gardeners, or pioneers in a pilot nutrition project. They are little people with names and stories and so much life ahead of them. They are kids who, who like every child, deserve to be surrounded by nourishing foods and experiences so they can live, learn, play and thrive and reach their fullest potential every day.

Thank you, dear reader, and Good Food Garden Ambassadors, for helping them get there.

-Sarah Copeland, Good Food Garden

Howdy Gardeners!

Last week when I returned from vacation, I had a brown package sitting on my chair.  When I saw it was sent from San Francisco I could feel the smile muscles in my face flex and felt as if it were Christmas in August!  I carefully opened the box only to find colorful, artistic gifts from the children of the Treasure Island Clubhouse.

I bounced around the office, sharing them with colleagues and then decided all employees at Food Network should see them.  Graciously, I was allowed to prop up a corkboard in our breakroom (which gets the most traffic) to hang them from!  Everyone has been complimenting the art and inquiring about the Good Food Garden's project. 

So happy to be involved and I hope you enjoy the photos we're sharing!

Warmly,
Kendra