Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's Agriculture Education program is taking a cue from this spring season and growing by leaps and bounds. Here’s a snapshot of some of the program’s recent expansions:
Sprout Scouts Online Adventures, the virtual presentation of the FoodCorps’ gardening program for students, is completely online and open for registration. With the onset of COVID-19, the Sprout Scouts curriculum was suspended due to safety protocols, and the Food Shuttle’s Agriculture Education program immediately began to explore ways to continue offering the course. To continue teaching students about cooking, gardening, and nutrition education in a hands-on and engaging way, Sprout Scouts Online Adventures was born. The self-paced video series on Google Classroom invites elementary-age children to follow the journey of Sprout Scout Leader Allison, her sidekick Maizey, and her alter ego Al as they encourage kids to get their hands dirty preparing, caretaking, and harvesting produce from a garden! Each episode teaches a new skill, with snacks to make, and crafts to do all along the way. The Welcome video for the series can be seen here. Students can register for the program individually, or teachers can register as a “classroom” group. Registration is available here.
In July 2021, the FoodCorps service program, which has been a terrific partner to the Food Shuttle since 2018, will be discontinued from the organization. The Food Shuttle is excited to continue the service FoodCorps has brought to our school partners with the addition of an Agriculture Education Coordinator staff position. The new Ag Ed Coordinator will provide hands-on teaching, teacher training, Grow Kits distribution, after-school programming, and will train families to support gardens. The Coordinator will help teachers feel more confident incorporating garden-based learning into their instruction by providing them with a set curriculum to utilize. The Coordinator will also support the school to build more interest in gardening with families and partnering organizations--such as the YMCA, 4H, or Boys and Girls Club-- which will help the garden have a diverse group of beneficiaries with access to fresh produce. By expanding with this new staff position, the Agriculture Education department is planning to help more schools graduate from the Growing School Gardens program and to eventually expand this program into all seven of the Food Shuttle’s service area counties.
Growth: it’s a hallmark of the spring season and all things agricultural at the Food Shuttle. It’s also part of the Food Shuttle’s motto—to Feed, Teach, and Grow.