Camp Susan Curtis Teach, Learn and Grow Garden
Camp Susan Curtis (CSC) is the ideal outdoor classroom where economically disadvantaged Maine boys and girls can learn, through experiential activities, the value of locally grown food.
- Help 500 children-in-need each summer learn to choose food to support a healthy lifestyle, at camp and beyond: increase understanding of 5-2-1-0* and likelihood of practicing it long after leaving camp. About one in three Maine children are overweight or obese; the challenges and consequences are greater for children-in-need.
- Enable participants to understand where their food comes from and change how they look at food in their communities: hunger awareness/prevention, individual/economic health, resource sustainability.
- During at least one meal per session, campers will be served food direct from the Garden.
- Each child will participate in a stage of the Gardening process.
- During each session, Cabin Counselors will teach:
- benefits of locally grown produce (health, environmental, economic);
- how the Garden addresses 5-2-1-0* including ways families can meet the ‘5 fruit/vegetables daily’ recommendation through family/community gardens, and with fun/healthy snacks/activities.
- Each child’s take-home packet will include information on how families can start a Kitchen Garden, and the benefits (increasing freshness/nutritional value,saving money, etc.).
- Reinforce the ‘5 fruits/vegetables’ behavior of the 5-2-1-0* program at CSC.
- Demonstrate the benefits of food grown without pesticides or life-extending chemicals, and the higher nutritional content of fresher foods.
- Results: in addition to surveying campers, we survey families to learn how many campers are practicing healthy behaviors a month after camp has ended.
- Environmental Education. Campers learn about reducing carbon footprints; use of natural pest control and fertilizers; resource sustainability.
- Financial Responsibility. Campers learn about supporting the local economy; economic and resource sustainability; saving money in the family food budget through a kitchen garden.
*5-2-1-0 is a Let’s Go! program (Kids CO-OP/Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital).
KGI is a nonprofit community of over 30,000 people who are growing some of our own food and helping others to do the same.
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Kitchen Gardeners International
3 Powderhorn Drive,
Scarborough, ME, 04074, USA