HFHK annual fundraiser honors educators before a sold-out crowd

Thanks to our sponsors and attendees who helped us raise over $32,000 - the most for a single event in HFHK history

More than 120 guests attended Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids’ annual friend- & fund-raising event on September 16. This year's celebration was titled "Growing the Future: The Promise of the School Garden Movement" and took place at Auburn Valley State Park. The theme was inspired by the first-ever national school garden conference, "Growing the School Garden Movement", organized by Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation and the School Garden Support Organization (SGSO).

"Meeting with other school garden organizations and professionals from across the country was absolutely pivotal to our vision of HFHK," said Lydia Sarson, Executive Director. "What we learned there was two-fold; one, we have something truly special here in Delaware with our unique 'Education Cultivation' program. No other organization or person we met with had the reach and impact that we do. The other major lesson learned was that this school garden movement isn't going away. It is only growing and we, as The First State school garden experts, have a responsibility to stand up and lead."

Honoring the work of three educators from across Delaware

Melissa Tracy, teacher at Odyssey Charter School (Spring '18), Maggie Kite, ESL-teacher at McVey Elementary School (2017/Fall '21), and Christy Kerr, principal at Phillip C. Showell Elementary School (Fall '21) were all honored as HFHK's 2022 Champion Cultivators for their outstanding efforts to support and advocate for garden education. "HFHK was the spark," commented Tracy, "Our K-12th grade program impacts 2,000+ students and it is why I plan to dedicate the second half of my career to being a garden educator and advocate."

"It has just been amazing to watch something real and hands on also happen to communicate and grow in our language skills together," Kite says about the impact of a school garden on her English As A Second Language class, "They like everything! It's amazing!"

Kerr, whose advocacy has brought HFHK's program to four additional schools within the Indian River School District, remarked, "I have seen the joy it's brought to my students. For me, as an administrator, anything we can do to build community is so important to me. We reap so many benefits."

All of these ripple effects are so hard to capture, but this is how we grow the future. This is the promise of the school garden movement. - Lydia Sarson, HFHK Executive Director

Keynote speaker Brianne Studer, Director of Programs at Washington Youth Gardens, spoke about their 50 years of garden education within Washington D.C., but impressed upon the guests the multi-faceted value school gardens bring to students. "School gardens increase the positive culture of trying," she remarked. "The seeds we plant today take time to manifest, but they will bloom."

Other guest speakers included Gwen Sullivant representing Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation and Dr. Kathy Shelton, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at FMC Corporation. FMC was the event's premier sponsor and whose contribution allowed for all garden coordinators to attend at no charge.