Lose For Good Gardens: New York City
Posted by Nicole Fitzgerald on Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Through our partnership with Weight Watchers and their Lose For Good® campaign, Share Our Strength donated six Lose For Good® Gardens across the country this past fall. These are fully-enclosed, sustainable, raised-bed gardens that offer children fun, hands-on gardening experiences to inspire healthy eating habits for life. These in-the-garden experiences are an important component in educating children and their families on the appeal and importance of fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods – key ingredients to ending childhood hunger.
In September 2010, Weight Watchers launched its third annual Lose For Good™ campaign. Lose For Good encourages Weight Watchers members to lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle while also giving back to the community. As members lose weight, Weight Watchers makes a donation to Share Our Strength. Members also have the opportunity to participate in local food drives to help fight hunger in their communities. Winners of this past year’s Lose For Good® campaign are the 2010 Weight Watchers Role Models of the Year. Garden sites were selected in each of their communities: Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York City and Raleigh. Each garden is being placed in a school or center that serves children who may be at risk for hunger.
New York City:
In the heart of Brooklyn at P.S. 164 Caesar Rodney School, third graders in Ms. McMeekin’s class donned their gloves on October 13, and got to work planting their Lose For Good Garden with us. They were very patient as the adults welcomed everyone to the event, but once the speeches were finished, these kids were ready to show off their gardening skills! They wasted no time getting their new vegetables into the soil. It was a colorful assortment: arugula, radicchio, broccoli, collards, escarole, fennel, kale, spinach, chervil, and the mystery vegetable of the day, shungiku! After a little research, we were able to determine that shungiku is a leafy vegetable popular in Greek, Japanese and Chinese cuisines. We all learned something in the Lose For Good Garden that day, and the kids at P.S. 164 will continue to learn from it for years to come.
Stay tuned for our final city post from Los Angeles!
February 9, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: corporate giving, weight watchers
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