Kathy D
Member
Number of posts : 18
Registration date : 2009-01-23
 | Subject: CGB Elem. Fruit Tree Project Receives U of M CAP award  Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:42 am | |
| Press Release: February 10, 2008CGB Elementary School Fruit Tree project receives U of M Community Assistance Program Award- hires Megan MatheyA project to provide a fruit tree to every child in the CGB Elementary School was recently awarded a student worker by the U of M Community Assistance Program (part of the U’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs). The Big Stone Area Foodshelf and CGB Elementary School teamed up on this pilot project to give kids access to healthy food, like fresh fruit, by providing them their own fruit tree.With CAP support, the project was able to hire Megan Mathey, a junior studying Horticulture at the U of M Twin Cities campus. Megan is a native of Rapid City, South Dakota and is president of the U’s Horticulture Club. She has worked in nurseries since she was 14 years old and works summers at the U of M’s Horticulture Research Center near the Arboretum. Megan knows her fruit trees! Megan will be working at the school and visiting our community frequently over the next four months. Families with children in the CGB Elementary School can look for a flyer to come home about the project in the coming days and a survey to help determine what, if any, fruit tree you would like planted at your home.The CGB kids and fruit trees project has a number of benefits for families and children. In some ways this is a “give a man a fish and he eats for a day- teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime project.” It is a pilot project to test whether providing fruit trees has the benefits we hope, which are:
- Helping with household and community food security
Increasing families access to healthy food
- Teaching children practical sciences about fruit tree care, horticulture, plant, and soil sciences
- Our school children get to know a college student who is excited about her work in Horticulture and see this as a potential career for themselves
- Creating local self reliance in fruit tree care, fruit production, and preserving fruit to eat throughout the year (think apple sauce, dehydrated apple rings, or cold storage of apples).
- Testing a new way for Food Shelves to provide a more sustainable food source for clients (like fruit trees)
If you have any questions about this project, please contact Kyle Dreke, 3rd Grade Teacher at CGB kdreke@graceville.k12.mn.us
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