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Thea Bowman Center Intergenerational Garden

Planting Seeds of Health 

Leader

Ella Thomas

Location

E 112 Street on Kinsman Ave. Cleveland , OH 44105

About the project

Ten  families of any size working together to grow vegetables and sharing the fun and the harvest while learning about nutrition  and the environment.  Adults will be assigned a small plot at the community garden to grow the vegetables that they choose. All materials and supplies will be made available to each family. Families will  engage in a 8 week learning session about healthy eating and how to prepare healthy and easy menus on a small budget. They will learn about budgeting for food and how to make healthy choices. The project will engage children in education about healthy eating  while working with adults to grow the family garden. Families will keep all of the food they grow in the garden. Upon completion of the project  families will be given a reasonable(based on family size) grocery store gift card.  Food purchased with the gift cards will be used with the garden vegetables to create complete meals.

The Steps

1. Recruitment of families to participate in the project. Families will be recruited from the weekly food pantry participants April 1- May 1.2. Each families will get the details of the project during the recruitment phase. 2. Meet with the families as a group May 1.

3.Garden preparation will take place April and  May as weather permits in Cleveland. Organizing and getting plots set up for families to choose their box. May 15. 4. Organizing sessions with families to talk about what vegetables they wish to grow and provide details about gardening etc.May 15. 5. Depending on weather start to plan certain vegetables in late May- Early June. 6. Learning Sessions begin in mid May for families. These will be group sessions.6. June , July, early August families will maintain their gardens and harvest certain vegetables as the summer progress 7. Family training sessions will end mid August. 8. Graduation celebration -mid to late August.

Why we‘re doing it

The Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Cleveland is on the poorest in the city and is a food desert.  There are limited opportunities for parents, grandparents and children to access fresh produce.  This project will help provide fresh, nutritious food in the short term and provide gardening and food preparation skills that will last lifetimes.  Additionally, it will beautify a vacant lot and allow inner city families to achieve a sense of purpose and achievement.

 

$514.00 / $514.00