A Chance for You to make a difference!

What do you think is the most urgent issue we face today? Global warming, youth obesity, national security, unemployment, urban violence . . . a few that come to mind. Did you know that school gardens can make a real difference in all these areas?

It’s well known today one in four children in the US is overweight [1]; this number is one in three at Urban Sprouts’ partner schools [2]. Our children are facing serious health problems unseen in previous generations before the age of 50 [3]. Urban Sprouts has shown that youth engaged in growing their own food eat more fruits and vegetables and teach their peers and families how to eat healthier.

Now, the threat of global warming is real, and school gardens inspire youth to teach their families how to protect the planet by driving less, eating locally-grown food, and keeping recyclables and compostables out of landfills.

In our grandparents’ generation, several million school children contributed to the war effort by feeding our country from school gardens, in name of the US School Garden Army [4]. Perhaps it’s time our children do the same, to protect us from the soaring cost of the oil that produces our industrial food crops and transports them to our door.

For all these reasons, Urban Sprouts helps urban youth to grow fresh, healthy organic food right at their own schools. By nurturing living plants, and by harvesting and eating fresh fruits and vegetables, youth are nourishing their bodies and cultivating a commitment to healthy living and a healthy environment.

This is why I’m inviting you, right now, to CLICK HERE and give a gift of $35, $50 or $100. Your support for Urban Sprouts will make a meaningful difference.

First of all, I want to tell you why school gardens are so meaningful to me.
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Seeds of Hope Sprouting

Urban Sprouts would like to thank Mr. Ed Wilkins, Director of the San Francisco Student Nutrition Services (SNS) for his personal commitment to improve San Francisco’s public school lunches. Mr. Wilkins has informed Urban Sprouts that with a grant from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office and the SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, SNS is installing salad bars in fifteen middle schools and high schools, including two Urban Sprouts' sites. Mr. Wilkins expressed that he expects a salad bar to open at June Jordan Small School for Equity and Excelsior Middle School (these two school share a cafeteria) in November 2007 and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School shortly thereafter. In addition, SNS is working with vendors that can provide organic California grown produce to these salad bars. These are promising steps for our district to be taking for the health of our youth. We are deeply appreciative and hope Mr. Wilkins keeps up the good work!