Whole Foods Market Foundation announced recently that 950 garden grants will be awarded to schools to start or expand edible learning spaces. For the second year, Amazon Fresh is supporting the program with $150,000, funding 48 garden grants. New this year, 100 select garden grant recipients are receiving additional funding totaling $100,000 from Newman’s Own Foundation to further their garden programs. The total $3.425 million investment will serve 554,385 students by providing $3,500 grants in the U.S and Canada. This year’s award is the largest annual investment in the garden grant program since inception.
Research from the University of Texas at Austin shows that students who participate in gardening, nutrition, and cooking classes eat more vegetables per day than they did before the programs. Plus, edible gardens support a wide range of classroom curriculums including science, nutrition, math, and art.
The program is one of the Foundation’s longest-running annual grants and has provided over $24 million to support more than 9,700 edible gardens benefiting over 6 million students since 2011.
Since 2011, Whole Foods Market Foundation has invested over $200 million supporting over 16,000 partner organizations and schools in 81countries around the world.
For more information, visit wholefoodsmarketfoundation.org/funding-announcements.
