To Learn More – Visit the FirstSchool Garden Website!

School gardens and gardening with children are not new concepts. Children have been involved in gardening for food and survival for thousands of years. Documentation of school based gardens dates back to the early 1500’s in Europe. The most important period for American school gardens began in the 1800’s with the first official US school garden at the George Putnam School of Roxbury, Massachusetts. During the 20th century, large cities such as Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Cleveland incorporated gardens into their schools. World War I and II war gardens tended by families and their children became signs of patriotism with the Victory Gardens producing up to 40% of the produce consumed nationally.

The Child’s Food Garden published in 1918 stated in its preface that…’The importance of encouraging our children in outdoor work with living plants is now recognized. It benefits the health, broadens the education, and gives a valuable training in industry and thrift. The great garden movement is sweeping all over America, and our present problem is to direct it and make it most profitable to the children in our schools and homes.’ This same premise enjoyed revitalization in 1995, when Alice Waters revolutionized the school garden concept with her cooking and gardening program known as the Edible Schoolyard. A timely renaissance as our nation addresses the growing childhood obesity crisis.

In 2004, Communities In Schools of Moore County completed renovation of a storage space into a Family Resource Center at Aberdeen Elementary School. The newly refurbished area contained a large kitchen, an ideal setting for combining with a school garden to replicate a program based on the Edible Schoolyard. The garden project was deferred for further evaluation. Later on when CIS received a request from Aberdeen Elementary School looking for opportunities to improve healthy eating and exercise, a school garden along with a fitness trail were envisioned. The creation and development of the CIS FirstSchool Garden and Fitness Trail would seek to cultivate student health and promote student success.

Through a major grant from the BlueCross and BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation and partnering with various donors and community organizations, the FirstSchool Garden program exposed hundreds of children to gardening as well as promoted options for a healthier lifestyle. Andi Korte, CISMC Executive Director, secured the funding from BlueCross and BlueShield Foundation of North Carolina and Moore Regional Hospital Auxiliary. The FirstSchool Garden at Aberdeen was developed by Kathy Byron, CIS Board Chair and Master Gardener. Many individuals helped by volunteering their time and or talent; the Town of Aberdeen Parks & Recreation, the 4-H, First Health, CIS volunteers, United Way volunteers, and Master Gardener Volunteers.

Within the Moore County School system, the FirstSchool Garden presented a great deal of ‘firsts’. The first school garden in Moore County Schools designed to address childhood obesity prevention. The first with a fitness trail planned by FirstHealth VP Bob Boone. The first major garden project providing education about healthy lifestyles by bringing diet, nutrition and food preparation directly to the students in the garden during school, after school and in the summer. This was also the first program providing extensive data establishing the impact of the garden as a vehicle for teaching good nutrition.  Overall, the CIS FirstSchool Garden Program demonstrated it was a successful tool for teaching important 21st century ideas with a back to basics approach.

Those first steps were supported by community partners who came together to bring their expertise to the project. Over two years ago, First Health Community Health Services developed FirstGarden, a community garden located in Southern Pines, through a grant with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. It was an inter-generational garden that was very successful. Students from the Southern Pines Boys and Girls Club participated in the garden through an after school program and the Southern Pines Parks and Recreation Department participated in the garden during their summer program. This project helped CIS support its case for gardening with children; it served as compelling evidence that youth gardens could be supported in our community and that a broad base of children were impacted by it. Melissa Watford from FirstHealth Community Health Services provided insight and information based on her experience as the project director for FirstGarden.

Taylor Williams, Moore County Cooperative Extension, heads up the Master Gardener Program and has been a resource for all aspects of information on vegetable gardening, organic practices, environmental and conservation issues. The CIS Vista Volunteers became Master Gardeners through his program at the Cooperative Extension and served as part of the FirstSchool Garden staff during the pilot year. New Master Gardener students were required to spend at least half of their service time in youth gardening. They are skilled volunteers who work many hours in the FirstSchool Gardens.

Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Director, Leigh Baggs’ partnership impacted the fitness trail and summer program. With support from the town of Aberdeen, the CIS Fitness Trail connects with the Aberdeen walking trail giving additional walking opportunities to all residents of Aberdeen.

Other partners included Quality Built Homes helping procure building supplies for the project and providing a skilled construction worker for the initial build. Sandhills Community College and the FirstHealth School Nurses established BMI measurements for study participants. Linda Gore, with 4H, added pedometers to track walking activities associated with the Fitness Trail. As a United Way Agency, we benefited from their generous volunteers’ efforts on the United Way Day of Caring when the garden was built. Our community volunteers worked tirelessly in the gardens as mentors, teachers and friends of the students at Aberdeen Elementary School.

Partnerships to obtain funding and support were critical components of this wonderful project. The collaboration with FirstHealth Community Health services was further strengthened as CIS and FirstHealth partnered to obtain additional funding from Moore Regional Hospital to expand the FirstSchool Garden Program to four other schools, Academy Heights Elementary, Pinecrest High School (Exceptional Ed), Vass Lakeview Elementary, and Pinehurst Elementary Schools.  New grants from BlueCross and BlueShield Foundation of North Carolina and Healthy Foods and Healthy Moves: Inform Chicago are testaments to CIS’s leadership in coordinating programs fostering “healthy lifestyles” for students within Moore County Schools. This new funding will help ensure the sustainability of the FirstSchool Garden Program.

As a result of the resounding success of this endeavor, a position to supervise the garden program’s integrity and sustainability was created within Communities In Schools, the CIS FirstSchool Garden Healthy Lifestyles and Sustainability Director. Kathy Byron was awarded the position with responsibilities that include overseeing all of the CIS FirstSchool Gardens serving as the liaison with Moore County Schools, First Health, CIS, the Master Gardeners, the NC Cooperative Extension and all other groups interested in working in the gardens. There will be a focus on the expansion of the program to propagate the success from local to state outreach as well as pave the way for future educational programs/ enrichment that can be implemented in the school curriculum pertaining to everything from obesity prevention to ecology and conservation, using science and technology.

The Moore County Cooperative Extension has established its alliance to the program by pledging that new Master Gardeners will spend most of their internship hours involved in youth gardens. It petitioned the Moore County Commissioners to permit funding for the creation of a Youth Garden Coordinator, awarded to Bruce Fensley, as an indicator of their commitment to dedicate their resources to the success of both community and school based gardens. In this new job position, the Garden Coordinator will support the CIS FirstSchool Gardens with his extensive expertise in gardening, coordinate Master Gardener Volunteers and work to recruit new volunteers to the garden program.

Community partnerships, support from parents, teachers, and countless volunteers throughout the Sandhills – who have all given so much to make this project a success -   provide evidence that a community working together can make a tremendous difference in our Moore County schools and students health awareness.

Communities In Schools, in an effort to sustain and enhance the CIS FirstSchool Garden initiative, applied for and was awarded a new Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina Foundation Grant that will provide the CIS Healthy Lifestyles and Sustainability Program Director – Kathy Byron – to continue to provide oversight to all of the CIS FirstSchool Gardens and also invite schools without gardens to participate in the garden experience.

In addition to the BCBSNC Foundation Grant, CIS was awarded a technology grant from the Healthy Foods, Healthy Moves Chicago Grant from CIS-Chicago and the CLOCC Foundation. This grant will provide assistance with the 5-4-3-2-1-GO initiative to help encourage ‘Healthy Foods, Healthy Moves’, PR, and an outcome based evaluation plan for schools and other sites involved in the CIS FirstSchool Gardens. CIS will partner with FirstHealth Community Health Services, The Moore County Health Department and The Town of Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Department to implement this new grant.

Communities In Schools thanks all of our many partners and looks forward to a great 2009 in the gardens!