Photo courtesy of Hemera / Thinkstock
Hoping to make a dent in the childhood - corpulency epidemic , FoodCorps will teach kid how to garden and eat nutrition - packed repast .
pay a small stipend and aligned with married person establishment , the first crop ofFoodCorpsservice volunteers recoil off a one - twelvemonth condition on August 15 , 2011 .
task with seeding and harvesting schoolyard garden from scratch , a total of 50 volunteers wait on 139 schools with one goal in psyche : to not only teach kids how to garden and eat nutrition - pack meal , but to also make a serious dent in the nation ’s childhood - obesity epidemic .
Many of the projects answer public schooltime where half or more of the pupil are eligible for free or reduced lunches . “ We ’re focused on communities that may not have had access to programs like this before , ” explicate Program Director Cecily Upton , a Centennial State - founder of FoodCorps along with Curt Ellis ( co - creator of the filmKing Corn ) and Debra Eschmeyer ( former director of outreach and communication atNational Farm to School internet ) .
When Upton ’s childhood scientific discipline teacher arranged for her class to grow on nearby country , it eternally changed the way Upton viewed food . “ It was a turning item for me to learn how food is grown , ” she says .
While many schoolyard gardens are already in lieu , the job has been keep back the impulse going , Upton says . A lot of times , one volunteer take on the project for a time of year , but no one summarize it the following year . “ If there is n’t someone to really shepherd the program , often times , the school day garden may lie fallow . If you allow for it to go bad and sit there neglected , it becomes a sore spot . masses see an abandoned garden and think that nobody cares . ”
By partnering with organizations located in the same United States Department of State , these projects have a high chance of succeeding .
When President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act two twelvemonth ago , Upton and the other founders knew the timing was right to get FoodCorps off the priming . “ There were thousands of young people out there looking for a job that would obligate an ingress decimal point into a calling in public wellness , education or the food system . ” she say .
Within 10 years , FoodCorps aims to have 1,000 service volunteers out in the field . “ We desire to be the Thatch for America of Slow Foods , ” Upton says .
FoodCorps is fund by a three - year grant from AmeriCorps as well as financial accompaniment from secret donors and W.K. Kellogg Foundation .
