February 6, 2016

WGF and Driscoll’s Give Out $10,000 in Garden Grants

This past year Western Growers Foundation was awarded a $10,000 grant from Driscoll’s as a part of their Regional Community Grants Program.  After a competitive application process, WGF is excited to announce the 20 grant winning schools.  Each school will receive a $500 check, a copy of our California Gardens for Learning book, seeds and Producepedia recipe cards to help them create or sustain an edible school garden.

This grant program was open to K-12 schools throughout Merced, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Tehama and Ventura counties with large Latino student populations and/or Migrant Education Programs per the guidelines of Driscoll’s Regional Community Grants Program.  Tom O’Brien, senior vice president and general counsel for Driscoll’s said, “Our community grants program supports solutions that build vibrant communities with a new level of understanding, partnerships, economic growth and innovation between agriculture and the very communities that make the work possible.  We are excited about our school garden partnership as it will foster the knowledge of where our food comes and the people that make it possible—from the farmworker to the farmers.” Together WGF and Driscoll’s will further this discussion about food through these edible school garden grants.

As a part of this grant program, WGF hopes to bring a face to farming by having professionals working in agriculture visit the schools to talk about their careers and local agriculture.  We are looking for Western Growers members who are willing to donate their time to help educate students at one or more of the schools listed.  We welcome any member employees who would like to share with students what it’s like to work in agriculture, the various career possibilities and the overall importance of the industry.

If you work in ag and would like to volunteer to visit a school garden, please contact Sabrina Blair at [email protected] or 949-885-4789 for more information.

Grant Winners by County

Merced

  • McSwain Union Elementary School

Monterey

  • Del Rey Elementary School
  • King City Arts Magnet
  • Lincoln Elementary
  • Ord Terrace Elementary
  • Phoenix Academy
  • Spreckels Elementary

Santa Barbara

  • Kellogg School

Santa Cruz

  • Amesti Elementary School 
  • Calabasas Elementary
  • Cesar Chavez Middle School
  • HA Hyde Elementary
  • Monarch Community School
  • Mintie White Elementary School
  • Starlight Elementary

Ventura

  • Rio Del Norte School
  • Rio Lindo School
  • Rio Real School
  • Rio Rosales School