I had the pleasure of being PTA president at El Marino Language School for the past two years. When I began, I had one mission: a beautiful veggie garden that the kids could use as a "classroom."
Thanks to the Culver City Education Foundation we were able to start by bringing the Growing Great classroom program to school. This enabled us to teach grades 3-5 about the importance of eating healthy and how to read food labels, including ingredients lists. It also gave the kids a chance to try new foods.
Each month we would share fresh produce from the local farmer’s market with the students during lunch.
That was great, but we still wanted our own garden. Unfortunately, the space for the garden was occupied by a huge, diseased Ficus tree that was so far down on the district work order we worried that it wouldn’t get removed for years.
CCEF was already paying for our Growing Great classroom lessons, but it really wanted to help us get our garden so we could bring the Growing Great garden program to grades K-5.
With CCEF’s help we have now achieved our garden and the kids have a blast in there. We were even able to have our own farmer’s market and earned over $400.00.
Now my daughter is at Culver City Middle School and I see how much CCEF helps out there, too. Musical instruments, computers, and the back gym – the list goes on.
Thank you, CCEF. These are just some of the reasons I support you. I urge everyone in Culver City to join me.
Sincerely,
Alisha Martin
Editor’s note: letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.
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