Teaching Children how to take care of Their Bodies & the Planet

Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis.

Waylon chats with Bryce Brown, Founder of the Growe Foundation, about Growe’s work to improve school food and enrich education through school gardens.

“Need motivation? This one guy (who lives in affordable housing) founded a nonprofit that teaches math & science through gardening, creating enthusiasm for health in context of national obesity/diabetes crisis, & food for school lunches & food banks.“ (elephantjournal.com)
More from Growe Foundation:

Elephant is psyched to be working in partnership with Google+ on our new live video series, which features three live videos a week (that can be watched later, too).

About Growe: The Growe Foundation operates 18 gardens in Boulder Valley School District, and provides schools with a Garden to Table program that integrates into the curriculum. Growe is growing and continues to need the support of the local community in its efforts to educate children how food choices affects the health of their bodies and the planet. Learn more about the Growe Foundation and its Garden to Table program at Growe Foundation.

The Growe Foundation’s solutions:

Education: Provide schools with experiential learning programs that enrich education and teach students about food and the environment.

Eating: Help children understand the importance of fruits and vegetables and the connection between what they eat and the health of their body.

Environment: help children understand how the health of their bodies is linked to the health of the planet.

Check out Growe’s appearances on elephant journal:

> Real food for school lunches? 

> Growe Foundation Boulder.

This is info from the Growe Foundation’s website:

Bryce has a diverse background, a sixth generation New Zealander, he was trained as a Mechanical Engineer and immigrated to the United States at 21 years of age.

After working in the leisure industry at Mammoth Lakes Ski Resort, he went on to have a successful career as a management consultant to hospitals, where he witnessed firsthand the emerging incidences of chronic disease in kids.

Concerned with the effect that poor diets were having on children’s health and alarmed by environmental issues, he turned his attention towards finding a solution. In establishing the Growe Foundation, Bryce wanted to educate children about how their food choices affected the heath of their bodies and the planet.

In 2004, Bryce started working with a dozen at-risk youth from Justice High School to see how they would respond to learning about food and farming.

From this small beginning, he went on to start the School Food Project in Boulder Valley School District to reform the quality of school meals and to develop an experiential learning program for elementary schools called Garden to Table.

As the Executive Director of the Growe Foundation, Bryce continues to engage schools, families and communities in a movement that enriches the academic curriculum and provides children with the knowledge and skills needed to live healthy and sustainable lives.

Growe’s Story

Bryce started by approaching one elementary school in 2005  to explore how to improve school food and enrich education through school gardens.

Soon, a movement was born, engaging schools, teachers, students, parents and the local community in a common purpose.

Through the efforts of many, the two initiatives developed into the School Food Project and the Garden to Table program. There are now 17 Garden to Table schools within Boulder Valley School District, located in 5 cities and servicing over 7000 students.

The Challenges

Across the country, the health of children and the ecosystems they depend upon for life are in trouble. A lack of knowledge about food choice and nutrition is resulting in under-nutrition, obesity and a host of chronic diseases.

Children exposed to food additives, pesticides and chemicals in their environment are suffering from allergies, endocrine disorders, learning difficulties and cancers…

Education: Children need to understand how to eat healthy. 98% of the $2 billion in food and beverage advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium.

Eating: The type of food children are eating are causing problems. 31% of BVSD middle school student are trying to lose weight. 26% of US children suffer from some form of chronic disease or
health problem.

Environment: The 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides used each year and the chemicals in our environment, are contributing to neurocognitive disorders, chronic disease and the destruction of ecosystems.

Growe’s Solution

Growe believes that experiential learning is crucial to shaping child’s understanding, values and behavior.

By providing children with engaging educational experiences that connect them to food, how it’s grown and why fruits and vegetables are essential to their diet, we aim to address the childhood health issues and the environmental problems facing society.

Education: Provide schools with experiential learning programs that enrich education and teach students about food and the environment.

Eating: Help children understand the importance of fruits and vegetables and the connection between what they eat and the health of their body.

Environment: help children understand how the health of their bodies is linked to the health of the planet.

The Growe Garden to Table Program

Garden to Table is a comprehensive elementary school program that incorporates academic learning into a school garden. Standards based lessons provide students with opportunities to use science, math and language arts in a garden setting and learn first hand about ecology, economics, meteorology and the importance of healthy life supporting ecosystems.

Who is Involved

The program brings the school and the local community together to address the health and environmental issues facing society. Principals provide program leadership throughout the school community. Teachers enrich education through academic based garden lessons. Parent and Community Volunteers support classroom lessons and provide garden care.

Program Goals

The three goals of the Garden to table program are to:

1. Enrich Student Education: by using on-site gardens to teach academic subjects.

2. Address Health & Environmental Issues: by teaching the importance of food choice.

3. Building Community: by engaging schools and local community in the Garden to Table program.

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To support the Growe Foundation, like them on Facebook, find them on Twitter, get involved, donate and check out their events. 

> Their next upcoming event is a fundraiser at Post Brewing Company on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014. It is a four course brewmaster dinner with 100% of proceeds benefiting Growe. For more information, check out the event page.

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

Photos: The Growe Foundation